Weaver's Cove: Latest appeal has been denied
By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter

Fall River —
City officials and representatives from Weaver’s Cove Energy said Wednesday the company has been denied in its latest appeal of a U.S. Coast Guard recommendation not to allow smaller tankers transport liquefied natural gas to a city terminal.

Rear Admiral Timothy S. Sullivan, commander of the First Coast Guard District in Boston, upheld the initial decision not to recommend the project and shipments along the Narragansett and Mount Hope bays because of navigational hazards.

Coast Guard Captain Roy A. Nash, captain of the port of southeastern New England in Woods Hole, issued that decision on Oct. 24.

“After thorough review of the detailed appeal by Weaver’s Cove Energy, I support Capt. Nash’s decision that the waterway is unsafe in the vicinity of the Brightman Street bridges for the transit of LNG tankers because of the same navigational hazards previously addressed,” Sullivan said.

Both Mayor Robert Correia and Gordon Shearer, Weaver’s Cove Energy CEO, reacted to the denial, which was recorded within a 50-page document.

“Weaver’s Cove received the Adm. Sullivan’s ruling this morning. While we are disappointed that it did not fully reverse the earlier decision by Capt. Nash, we are glad that the admiral’s ruling appears to recognize that some significant findings in the earlier ‘letter of recommendation’ may have been incorrect,” Shearer said.

“The ruling is a lengthy document and we need to carry out a detailed analysis before we consider our next steps, which could include an appeal on the remaining issues to the next level of the Coast Guard,” he continued. “Meanwhile, we will also continue to pursue our offshore berth option as a way to address the ongoing obstruction created by the proposed retention of the old Brightman Street Bridge.

A third and final appeal in the Coast Guard chain of command would be to Rear Adm. Brian Salerno, Coast Guard assistant commandant for marine safety, security and stewardship in Washington, D.C. Further appeal would be in federal court.

Meanwhile, Correia echoed what’s been said after other LNG decisions by government officials: “It’s another nail in the coffin,” he said. “If the Coast Guard doesn’t approve it, it doesn’t happen.”

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also hailed the denial. “We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again — this LNG terminal should never have been proposed, and we will continue to do everything in our power to make sure it is defeated once and for all.”

He said “common sense and the public interest” are winning out.

Captain Nash, in his significant decision in October, said, “My ultimate recommendation is that the waterway from near Sandy Point, Prudence Island, Rhode Island… to the proposed facility in Fall River, Mass. is unsuitable from a navigation safety perspective for the type, size and frequency of LNG marine traffic associated with your proposal.”

He called the “risk of casualty unacceptably high” when conducted on a routine basis.

Shearer said Weaver’s Cove’s recently proposed offshore hookup is a way to avoid traversing the bridges. But an assistant corporation counsel for the city said Nash’s finding said the route north from Prudence Island in Rhode Island was “unsuitable.” Weaver’s Cove Energy is a subsidiary of Hess LNG, which purchased the 73-acre property for $16.8 million in January 2007.