By SARI ZEIDLER
The island, a 116-acre facility where natural gas will be converted to liquid natural gas and stored, was proposed by Atlantic Sea Island Group, which is calling the facility "Safe Harbor Energy." The island has drawn vocal opposition from Claudia Borecky, president of the North Merrick Civic Association, and Dave Denenberg, a Democratic county legislator from Merrick.
But the island is still in the planning stages, lacking a complete application and environmental impact statement, which requires approval by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration.
"Right now, the only way we can stop this and the only avenue we have is to make the governor hear us," said Chris Wade, chairman of the New York City chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, urging citizens to contact legislators to express opposition to the project. The island must be approved by both Gov. David Paterson and New Jersey Gov. John Corzine to get federal approval.
The Surfrider Foundation and Clean Ocean Action argue that the island, which will be built in the Cholera fishing bank, a popular location for recreational and commercial fishermen, will be harmful to the environment both because of dredging that will need to be done on the sea floor and because the process of converting natural gas to a liquid form, which requires it to be cooled to a temperature of 259 degrees below zero, creates a larger carbon footprint than using domestic natural gas. They have also raised concerns regarding safety and increasing U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources.
In previous interviews with the Herald, a spokesman for Atlantic Sea Island Group, Gary Lewi, said the liquid is safe. If an explosion were to occur, he said, the liquefied natural gas would escape from containment vessels that keep it at 259 degrees below zero, at which point an explosion would burn out and not burn on the ocean water. He admitted that natural gas would be shipped from foreign sources in the Caribbean, Russia and the Middle East, but argued that shipping it from foreign countries is better for the environment than burning domestic coal.
The project is said to cost $1 billion to complete.
Comments about this story? SZeidler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
