Patrick stopped by my house just now & handed me a small local newspaper with an alarming story in it. It appears that the state is in the final stages of approving an off shore natural gas port that is planned to be anchored approximately 7 miles due east of Anglin Pier. I've been living here for nearly 5 years now & never even heard of it. 
Here's a link to the article in ByTheSeaFuture (posted below). I will be contacting the organizers of the protest to learn more about this & will get petitions for folks to sign.
Is This What We Want Anchored To Our Horizon?
Story by Mark Brown
There is nothing more tranquil than sitting on the beach and gazing out at the ocean, watching the boats or enjoying the moonlit sky sparkling against the waves. Local residents and visitors may soon have another sight to look at as well: a massive deepwater energy port located about seven miles off the coast of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea and the Galt Ocean Mile.
The deepwater port project was formally proposed in 2006 and has been quietly winding its way through an extensive local, state and federal review process for the past two years. Now it appears that the final decision-making time is almost at hand. According to Mary Kate Jager, project manager for the U.S. Coast Guard which is overseeing the review process, the federal government expects to publish the final environmental impact statement on the project “early this summer.” That will be followed by a public hearing, after which Florida Governor Charlie Crist will have 45 days to approve or disapprove the project. If the governor approves it or fails to act, it will then be up to the U.S. Maritime Administration to decide whether or not to license the project. The Governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
With the review process rapidly coming to an end, a group of local citizens has organized along the Galt Ocean Mile to generate opposition to the project and try to stop it. They have posted petitions in many condos and begun a letter-writing campaign to their elected officials, warning that the deepwater port could become a terrorist target and a potential environmental disaster. They are also planning to mobilize for the upcoming public meeting to draw attention to the project and encourage local residents to speak out.
“I know of no opposition to this project and am amazed at the lack of knowledge about it among local residents,” one of the group’s leaders, Bill Claire, wrote in a recent edition of the Galt Mile newsletter. “This has been much like a stealth bomber flying towards its target.”
The proposed deepwater port, known as Calypso LNG, is a venture of Suez Energy International. On March 1, 2006, the company applied for a license to build and operate a lique. ed natural gas (LNG) deepwater port about 7-10 miles off the coast of South Florida. The port would consist of two loading docks, called buoys, each the length of three football fields and towering 12 stories high. The company’s preferred location is directly east of the fishing pier in LBTS.
LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to reach a liquid form so more of it can be transported in a tanker. The liquified gas carried in the tankers would be revaporized at the deepwater port, then transported via an underwater pipeline to storage facilities at Port Everglades. The deepwater port plans to handle two LNG vessels simultaneously and expects to transfer more than a billion cubic feet of natural gas a day through the pipeline, which it says it will help Florida meet approximately 25% of its peak demand for electricity.
In a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) published in the Federal Register in November, 2007, the federal government acknowledged that the project would cause some environmental harm during its 25- year operational lifetime, including damage to water resources, biological resources, recreational boating and visual impact, but said these impacts would be minor.
Opponents believe the EIS vastly underestimates the potential environmental impact of the project, especially the possibility of an explosion if the port is damaged by a hurricane, accident or terrorist attack. They point out that each tanker holds the equivalent of 20 billion gallons of natural gas, which is equal to 55 Hiroshima bombs. They have documented a series of LNG explosions, including a major incident in Cleveland in 1944 in which the holding tanks failed and the vaporous gas ignited, destroying an entire square mile of the city.
“If there is a fire, we’ll be scorched within a two-mile radius on land,” said Dr. David Marshall, who has been leading the opposition along with Bill Claire and their wives Barbara and Theresa. “That fireball can be blown right up to the beach.” Claire pointed out that there are no deepwater LNG facilities anywhere in the U.S. and there has been no testing of their safety on this gigantic scale. “They want us to be guinea pigs for this technology,” Claire said. “That facility doesn’t belong out there.”
Claire said several reports have been prepared by Congress and the Pentagon which conclude that a deepwater LNG port would be an attractive target for terrorists, since it is dif. cult to defend. He said it would only take a small rupture of the holding tanks or pipeline by an accident or deliberate act to cause the gas to release and form into a huge, easily ignitable vapor cloud which would quickly travel across the ocean towards land. Or, he said, terrorists could seize an LNG tanker and steer it to land, creating in effect a Floating bomb. “This port will be a terrorist target of the first magnitude,” he said. “There is no way the Coast Guard can protect it.”
Claire also expressed concern that it is bad policy for the U.S. to begin importing a huge volume of natural gas from Africa and Asia at a time when we should become more energy-independent. “We should put our money into developing our own energy sources,” he said. “It is the wrong direction to become more reliant on foreign fossil fuels, and have more of our money ending up in foreign countries.”
The Claires and Marshalls liken their struggle to David vs. Goliath, but they are optimistic that they can stop the project. They are encouraged that just last month, New York Gov. David Paterson vetoed a similar floating LNG plant which had been proposed for Long Island Sound. They are urging local residents to sign the petitions and write to Governor Crist to request that he veto the project. “I think we’re going to win this thing,” Marshall said.
For more information about the project or copies of the petitions, contact Bill and Theresa Claire at 954-561-0865 or Dr. David and Barbara Marshall at 954-568-3135. Comments may also be emailed directly to Governor Crist at harlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com.
Here's a link to the article in ByTheSeaFuture (posted below). I will be contacting the organizers of the protest to learn more about this & will get petitions for folks to sign. Is This What We Want Anchored To Our Horizon?
Story by Mark Brown
There is nothing more tranquil than sitting on the beach and gazing out at the ocean, watching the boats or enjoying the moonlit sky sparkling against the waves. Local residents and visitors may soon have another sight to look at as well: a massive deepwater energy port located about seven miles off the coast of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea and the Galt Ocean Mile.
The deepwater port project was formally proposed in 2006 and has been quietly winding its way through an extensive local, state and federal review process for the past two years. Now it appears that the final decision-making time is almost at hand. According to Mary Kate Jager, project manager for the U.S. Coast Guard which is overseeing the review process, the federal government expects to publish the final environmental impact statement on the project “early this summer.” That will be followed by a public hearing, after which Florida Governor Charlie Crist will have 45 days to approve or disapprove the project. If the governor approves it or fails to act, it will then be up to the U.S. Maritime Administration to decide whether or not to license the project. The Governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
With the review process rapidly coming to an end, a group of local citizens has organized along the Galt Ocean Mile to generate opposition to the project and try to stop it. They have posted petitions in many condos and begun a letter-writing campaign to their elected officials, warning that the deepwater port could become a terrorist target and a potential environmental disaster. They are also planning to mobilize for the upcoming public meeting to draw attention to the project and encourage local residents to speak out.
“I know of no opposition to this project and am amazed at the lack of knowledge about it among local residents,” one of the group’s leaders, Bill Claire, wrote in a recent edition of the Galt Mile newsletter. “This has been much like a stealth bomber flying towards its target.”
The proposed deepwater port, known as Calypso LNG, is a venture of Suez Energy International. On March 1, 2006, the company applied for a license to build and operate a lique. ed natural gas (LNG) deepwater port about 7-10 miles off the coast of South Florida. The port would consist of two loading docks, called buoys, each the length of three football fields and towering 12 stories high. The company’s preferred location is directly east of the fishing pier in LBTS.
LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to reach a liquid form so more of it can be transported in a tanker. The liquified gas carried in the tankers would be revaporized at the deepwater port, then transported via an underwater pipeline to storage facilities at Port Everglades. The deepwater port plans to handle two LNG vessels simultaneously and expects to transfer more than a billion cubic feet of natural gas a day through the pipeline, which it says it will help Florida meet approximately 25% of its peak demand for electricity.
In a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) published in the Federal Register in November, 2007, the federal government acknowledged that the project would cause some environmental harm during its 25- year operational lifetime, including damage to water resources, biological resources, recreational boating and visual impact, but said these impacts would be minor.
Opponents believe the EIS vastly underestimates the potential environmental impact of the project, especially the possibility of an explosion if the port is damaged by a hurricane, accident or terrorist attack. They point out that each tanker holds the equivalent of 20 billion gallons of natural gas, which is equal to 55 Hiroshima bombs. They have documented a series of LNG explosions, including a major incident in Cleveland in 1944 in which the holding tanks failed and the vaporous gas ignited, destroying an entire square mile of the city.
“If there is a fire, we’ll be scorched within a two-mile radius on land,” said Dr. David Marshall, who has been leading the opposition along with Bill Claire and their wives Barbara and Theresa. “That fireball can be blown right up to the beach.” Claire pointed out that there are no deepwater LNG facilities anywhere in the U.S. and there has been no testing of their safety on this gigantic scale. “They want us to be guinea pigs for this technology,” Claire said. “That facility doesn’t belong out there.”
Claire said several reports have been prepared by Congress and the Pentagon which conclude that a deepwater LNG port would be an attractive target for terrorists, since it is dif. cult to defend. He said it would only take a small rupture of the holding tanks or pipeline by an accident or deliberate act to cause the gas to release and form into a huge, easily ignitable vapor cloud which would quickly travel across the ocean towards land. Or, he said, terrorists could seize an LNG tanker and steer it to land, creating in effect a Floating bomb. “This port will be a terrorist target of the first magnitude,” he said. “There is no way the Coast Guard can protect it.”
Claire also expressed concern that it is bad policy for the U.S. to begin importing a huge volume of natural gas from Africa and Asia at a time when we should become more energy-independent. “We should put our money into developing our own energy sources,” he said. “It is the wrong direction to become more reliant on foreign fossil fuels, and have more of our money ending up in foreign countries.”
The Claires and Marshalls liken their struggle to David vs. Goliath, but they are optimistic that they can stop the project. They are encouraged that just last month, New York Gov. David Paterson vetoed a similar floating LNG plant which had been proposed for Long Island Sound. They are urging local residents to sign the petitions and write to Governor Crist to request that he veto the project. “I think we’re going to win this thing,” Marshall said.
For more information about the project or copies of the petitions, contact Bill and Theresa Claire at 954-561-0865 or Dr. David and Barbara Marshall at 954-568-3135. Comments may also be emailed directly to Governor Crist at harlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com.
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