Empower NJ Public Meeting on Fighting LNG Port in Gibbstown

The Sierra Club will join the Delaware River Keeper Network at a public meeting tonight on the LNG port proposal along the Delaware River. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Greenwich Township Public Library, 411 Swedesboro Road in Gibbstown. On June 13^th, the DRBC voted to approve the application for a new dredging project at the Delaware River Partners (DRP) Gibbstown Logistics Center, a multi-use deep-water seaport and international logistics center currently under development, located at River Mile 86.5 of the Delaware River in Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey. The NJDEP can still deny its water permits and the project must be approved by the Army Corp. and FERC. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“New Fortress’s proposal to build a massive LNG port that will have major implications to the environment and public safety. A port along the river where combustible fuel like LNG is being transported and stored brings great danger to the region from potential spills and explosions. These are very real concerns, not just remote possibilities. Forest Energy has been hiding what they have been doing, and the DRBC acted reckless in approving it.

“New Fortress will not be building a storage facility on site to store the LNG, instead they will store it on ships which is much worse. This is a huge safety issue because they will be pumping LNG 24/7 into a tanker, creating more chances for leaks and accidents. The company will bring 3.5 million gallons of LNG a day to the port from truck or rail, this is equivalent to 2 billion gallons of natural gas. It takes 10% of the energy of the natural gas to liquefy it. That’s 200 million gallons of natural gas every day. These numbers can be greatly expanded if New Fortress gets an export license.

“The trucks carrying LNG will be bombs on wheels, maybe hundreds a day going to the site, traveling miles and miles in all kinds of weather, through our neighborhoods and along our highways. Transporting LNG by rail is not legal yet. However, a proposal by PHMSA on the federal level will allow the shipment of LNG by rail. These tankers carrying LNG are compressed at 600 to 1, so if an explosion happens, it can wipe out a neighborhood and be catastrophic. A train derailment carrying LNG will be much worse than what happened in Paulsboro when a tanker derailed and released 23,000 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride gas. We need to stop the federal government and President Trump from allowing that to happen. More importantly, Governor Murphy must protect us and deny PHMSA’s permit.

“Residents living near the proposed LNG port will be at risk from a spill or explosion. The port would sit along the river near densely populated areas. This is very concerning because LNG is very volatile. A leak in the water will bring the temperature down to -160 degrees Celsius or -260 degrees Fahrenheit, and will cause a massive fireball, like what happened in Cleveland. People will be living 200 feet from the facility. The potential blast zones from an LNG port can destroy anything up to 2 miles away. LNG ports have exploded in Plymouth, Wash., Cove Point, Md, and Cleveland as well as Algeria. LNG truck fires have occurred in the Netherlands and Belgium. They are similar to a napalm bomb going off. There have been major tanker problems in China and other places. There could be many thousands of people harmed or killed by any type of spill or explosion from a truck, or tanker, or storage tank.

“An LNG port will have serious impacts to our clean air and drinking water. Methane has the potential to leak from trucks coming in or at the facility. Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and can cause major climate impacts, while adversely affecting public health, like causing childhood asthma attacks, other respiratory ailments, and even premature death. Toxins from the site can leach into the ground from the underground tank. These toxins can threaten the Delaware River which provides drinking water for millions of people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Since the River is tidal, a spill or explosion could impact our drinking water supply. Sensitive ecosystems like wetlands along with endangered species like the Atlantic sturgeon could also be impacted.

“Bridge and river traffic would be greatly disrupted by a LNG port. If New Fortress will be shipping these tankers in and out of the port, we will have to close shipping traffic when these barges pass and we will need the National Guard to do that, as they do in Boston. We will have to close the Philadelphia airport and local airports too because these tankers are a homeland security risk.

“Even though DRBC approved the LNG port, we will continue to fight at the state and federal level. DEP can still deny its water permits and the project must be approved by the Army Corp. and FERC. We will fight each agency every step of the way. We will also ask the DRBC to reconsider. This is just the beginning of the battle, this is not the end.”

This is a statement from the New Jersey Sierra Club and has nothing to do with the Greenwich Township Public Library.