STACK AND McGEEHAN CALL FOR ALTERNATIVES TO RIVERFRONT LNG PROJECT

HARRISBURG, December 7, 2005 - State Sen. Michael Stack and Rep. Michael McGeehan are looking at alternatives to a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to be located in Port Richmond. “The Philadelphia Gas Works should be examining other proposals,” said Stack (D-Philadelphia). “There are too many unanswered questions about security and the cost to build a terminal, ship LNG up the Delaware, and store it in the middle of a city of 1.5 million people. It might be a better option to build an LNG pipeline from the proposed Gloucester County facility to Port Richmond. A pipeline would cause fewer disruptions for riverfront neighborhoods, businesses, and transportation corridors.” "A pipeline to Port Richmond would certainly be more acceptable than bringing tankers up the river from both the perspective of public safety and the cost involved in guarding each tanker as it would make the trip through Philadelphia to Port Richmond," said McGeehan. "It would avoid having to close bridges, divert aircraft and shutting down other river traffic and reduce the potential danger to waterfront businesses and residents." Last week the Coast Guard approved a plan to bring LNG tankers up the Delaware River to a terminal to be located in Gloucester County, N.J. The Philadelphia Gas Works has proposed building a terminal to receive LNG tankers at its Port Richmond facility, which currently stores and processes LNG. The safety of LNG terminals located near major urban centers has been debated nationwide. In a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding a proposed terminal in Long Beach, the California Public Utilities Commission presented testimony from an expert that believes an LNG spill could burn or kill people up to three miles away. The hazard analysis commissioned for the Long Beach FERC report found that the burn zone from a blast would be much smaller, probably constrained to the terminal’s property. ###

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