09-R376
2009 -- H 6447
Enacted 10/28/09
H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
RESPECTFULLY
REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD TO
RECONSIDER ITS
LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION REGARDING THE WATERWAY SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR THE
WEAVER’S COVE ENERGY PROPOSAL
Introduced By: Representatives Gallison, Ruggiero, Martin, A Rice, and Gablinske
Date Introduced: October 28, 2009
WHEREAS, Weaver’s Cove
Energy, LLC has proposed construction of a liquefied
natural gas (LNG) facility in
LNG offloading platform in
WHEREAS, Weaver’s Cove
Energy, LLC proposes to bring 900 foot long LNG
supertankers into Narragansett Bay and
WHEREAS, As a part of the process in determining whether this
proposed project should
advance, the navigational safety of LNG supertankers falls to
the United States Coast Guard. The
Captain of the Port, who also serves as the Federal
Maritime Security Coordinator, is responsible
for providing a Letter of Recommendation (LOR) to the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC); and
WHEREAS,
Development of the LOR is guided by Navigation Inspection Circular 05-
08 (NVIC 05-08) which ensures the project’s compliance
with applicable existing laws and
regulations. In addition, the Captain of the Port has statutory
responsibilities (R.I.G.L. 39-1-2.1)
to protect the personal safety of the state’s
inhabitants and visitors, as well as to safeguard
property situated within the borders of the state; and
WHEREAS, The General
Laws further state that “it is well known and accepted that the
use, storage, transmission, or transportation of
liquefied natural gas involves an opportunity for
the cause of personal injury or property damage, the
general assembly hereby declares that the
reasonable exercise of its police power for the safety and
welfare of the inhabitants and visitors of
the state and for the protection of property located
within the state requires the control and
regulation of the use, storage, transmission, and transportation
of liquefied natural gas”; and
WHEREAS, Part of the
Coast Guard’s role in gathering information to aid in the
execution of the responsibility to develop an LOR, as stated in
the Committee Report for the
Senate version of the Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, is to “...fully
evaluate the impact of recreational and commercial vessel
traffic in relation to navigational safety
and security of a proposed LNG facility in
WHEREAS, A panoply of concerns regarding the impact and challenges
this project will
present to the safety of the state’s citizenry and waterways
has not yet been fully explored or
considered; and
WHEREAS, Also, the state and various local port stakeholders have not
been afforded
sufficient opportunities to participate, collaborate, and
provide relevant input into this process;
and
WHEREAS, In
addition, Weaver’s Cove Energy’s pending appeals from the Coast
Guard’s previously issued veto of a LOR for its
initial proposal must first be determined before
the current proposal moves forward; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED,
That this House of the Representatives of the State of
Providence Plantations
hereby respectfully requests the United States Coast Guard to reconsider
its letter of recommendation determining that the
construction of a liquefied natural gas platform
in
Bay and
of the Weaver’s Cove Energy proposal; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is
authorized and directed to
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the President
of the
the Department of Homeland Security, Commandant of the
United State Coast Guard, the Rhode
Island Congressional
Delegation, and Captain Raymond Perry, Commander,
Guard,
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LC03016
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