Proposed $100 million dollar LNG facility sparks environmental debate

By Kirsten Glavin

kglavin@abc6.com

@kirstenglavin

Plans for a $100– million– dollar liquified natural gas plant on the Providence industrial waterfront are in the works.  The first of it's kind, for the state of Rhode Island.  According to National Grid, it's an issue of supply and demand.
 
"Our responsibility is to provide natural gas to our customers when they need it the most in the winter.  And the way the pipelines are constructed today, there just isn't enough gas in the winter for the peak loads, when the weather gets very very cold," said Anthony LaRusso, a Project Director for National Grid.
 
National Grid's plan, is to install a liquifier that will take natural gas from an on–site pipe,cool it down, and then inject it into their storage tank.  This way, the facility can rely less on outsourcing from other facilities and overseas.

"We believe that it wont have much impact at all on the community from an environmental standpoint," said LaRusso.

National Grid says it's going to great lengths to make the project environmentally friendly and safe.  It will also add jobs.  But the Environmental Justice League is calling it "environmental racism."  They claim it's dangerous for the health of nearby minority communities near Fields Point.
 
"We want jobs where folks can make a decent living without doing it on the backs of someone else. Without doing it on the backs of a displaced community. And that's what we think this project does," said Steve Roberts of the Environmental Justice League.

The organization worries about toxic emissions.  Rhode Island is ranked number two in the nation for children living within hazard radius of chemical facilities.  They say it needs to stop.

"We need a serious investment in clean energy, and less pollutive energy, and energy that can sustain us moving forward," suggested Roberts.

"Health is the main concern," added a local resident in Fields Point.  "If they're going to do something so close to home, they don't care about the community."

Pending state and federal approval, the project is scheduled to be up and running by fall of 2018.

(C) WLNE-TV 2015