What's Port Ambrose really all about?

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Zipf and Dixon were joined on the call by Bruce Ferguson, a member of Catskills Citizens for Safe Energy. “LNG exports [are] the future of the gas industry in this country,” Ferguson said. “… We are becoming the new Third World: the country that is going to be devastated by fracking so that we can provide other countries with cheap energy supplies.”

Ferguson cited reports that fracking has led to drinking-water contamination, air pollution, and adverse effects on agriculture and tourism in states where it is legal.

What happens next?

COA claimed in an email that one of its staffers, Catie Tobin, had reviewed more than 10,000 comments that people submitted to the Maritime Administration and found that just 12 favored Port Ambrose.

The Maritime Administration and Coast Guard will now prepare a draft environmental impact statement, followed by more public hearings. By law, the agencies have 240 days from the date when Liberty’s application was published in the Federal Register — that is, until Feb. 19, 2014, if there are no delays or extensions — to conduct all public hearings on Port Ambrose. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will have 45 days from the time that the public hearings conclude to veto Port Ambrose.

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