Broadwater Zone Determination

abarrelfull wrote on 09 Mar 2012 13:41
Tags:

Latest News

• Want a weekly review of refining news?

• This Week in Refining
• RSS Feed

04/10/2008

The New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) today announced they have issued a negative consistency determination in Broadwater Energy’s (Broadwater) Coastal Zone Management Act application, finding the project is not consistent with the state’s coastal zone policies.

The determination comes two weeks after the bi-partisan Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unanimously approved (in a vote of 5-0) construction and operation of Broadwater on March 20th 2008. The FERC decision was based in part on the findings and recommendations of final environmental impacts statement (FEIS) released in January 2008.

NYSDOS was a cooperating agency in the development of the environmental impact statement along with: the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“We are disappointed and concerned with the NYSDOS’ decision,” said John Hritcko, Senior Vice President and Regional Project Director, Broadwater Energy. “We specifically designed this project to be consistent with the State’s coastal management policies and offered a number of additional commitments that would further enhance the State’s coastal resources.”

The regulatory process provides the project a number of options going forward and Broadwater will review the specifics of the decision before deciding on potential next steps.

“We continue to believe that the Broadwater project, as proposed, is the best option for New York State to meet its growing demand for clean, affordable, reliable natural gas – and does so with no near shore or onshore impacts. Further, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have determined that with the mitigation measures proposed by Broadwater and those they have recommended, Broadwater can operate safely and securely in Long Island Sound and will have less environmental impacts than any other alternative,” noted Hritcko.

Thousands of consumers and businesses believe that Broadwater is the right project, in the right place at the right time – to bring additional new natural gas supply to an area that is desperately in need of clean, affordable, reliable energy. “On behalf of the entire Broadwater team, we want to thank the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who spoke out on behalf of millions of others in support of this project,” concluded Hritcko.

• Broadwater Zone Determination

---