newjerseynewsroom.com

Tells federal authorities it will develop new plan

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Liberty Natural Gas has canceled a plan to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in the Atlantic Ocean 16 miles off Asbury Park. The company said it will propose a new plan in the future.

Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the plan in February 2011, declaring it posed a risk to New Jersey’s tourism and fishing industries.

But Liberty is not giving up. In an April 10 letter to the federal Maritime Administration and the Coast Guard, company officers stated that there have been so many changes to the plan that a new application is necessary.

"Liberty completely redesigned its project, including by scaling down its size from four buoys to two, eliminating the onshore pipeline, changing the project location and configuration to site the project exclusively offshore, and redesigning its construction and techniques to substantially reduce seabed impacts," the company wrote regulators.

Liberty 's plan was the last of three proposed offshore New Jersey gas projects to remain under consideration. ExxonMobil had proposed a floating gas terminal called BlueOcean Energy about 20 miles off Manasquan, and The Atlantic Sea Island Group proposed a 63-acre artificial island nearly 20 miles off Sandy Hook for a liquefied natural gas port to be called "Safe Harbor Energy."

Liberty argued that its facility would be far enough offshore so that it would not be visible to beachgoers. The company projected creating 1,000 construction and permanent jobs. It hoped to have the terminal in operation by 2014.

Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director, said of Liberty’s decision, “Stopping this LNG (Liberty) facility is important for New Jersey’s clean energy future. LNG will be used to undercut renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Now the governor needs to oppose fracking with the same strong opposition he had to export LNG facilities. Governor Christie needs to ensure that not only our ocean is protected, but also our rivers and streams from fracking wastewater. Fracking is a threat to 15 million in the region and almost 3 million in New Jersey.”