"I think it's an unfunded mandate for our first responders, to have to deal with something like this," Povall said. "That alone should have people worried, what would happen? ... It's a question of evacuation, and an evacuation could not be done if there was some kind of eminent [catastrophe]. Am I saying that's likely? I'm not, but it's a possiblity and it's a possibility that can't be taken off of the table. And another concern is the environment, and the fact that it's going to be right in the middle of the proposed wind farm is a terrible thing, because that proposed wind farm will do more for stabilizing our prices than any potential LNG port."

The project’s draft environmental impact statement was released in December, which officially kicked off the start of a 60-day public comment period that included a public hearing on Jan. 7 in Jamaica, Queens.

“We are very pleased that the United States Coast Guard’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement ... supports the project design, location and fundamental need," Liberty Natural Gas Chief Executive Officer Roger Whelan said in a statement last month. "The DEIS confirms the truth about this offshore natural gas supply project and confirms that our proposal constitutes no significant environmental or security risk to the region. The release of the DEIS is a major milestone, and we are pleased that the Coast Guard and other agencies were able to clearly lay out the minimal environmental and safety impacts of the project in the document."

Officials and environmentalists, however, criticized not just the proposal, but the decision to release the 1,800-page report shortly before the holidays and schedule public meetings outside of Long Beach and other South Shore communities they say would be affected by the project, saying that it was “unreasonable” for MARAD and the Coast Guard to hold its meeting in Queens.

"They decided to hold one hearing in Jamaica, Queens," Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) told the crowd. "It was done right after the holiday and I, frankly, think it's not a coincidence, that this was designed so something can sneak by. But it's not going to sneak by."