PORTSMOUTH, R.I. – Hoping to throw a roadblock in front of a plan to bring a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to Mount Hope Bay, state lawmakers are considering a bill that would require any ship longer than 150 feet carrying a cargo of hazardous material to clear Rhode Island’s bridges by at least 25 feet.
Rep. Douglas Gablinske (D-Bristol) hopes that his bill will prevent the transit of LNG tankers into Mount Hope Bay. (Photo courtesy RI.gov)
Introduced by Rep. Douglas W. Gablinske (D-Bristol), the legislation was heard before a meeting of the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday.
According to proponents of the bill, there are only two bridges in the entire state that can accommodate a large ship longer than 150 feet – the Newport (Pell) Bridge and the Mount Hope Bridge. The Pell Bridge stands 206 feet above the waterline and the Mount Hope Bridge is 135 feet above the water.
According to Rep. Gablinske, current recreational, commercial and military marine traffic under these bridges would not be disrupted by the parameters set forth in his legislation (2010-H7014). However, the LNG ships that would serve the proposed “in-bay” berthing facility in Mount Hope Bay would be prohibited from passing under the Mount Hope Bridge, if his bill is enacted. The LNG tankers are 900 feet long and stand 130 feet above the water, giving them only five feet of clearance under the Mount Hope Bridge.
At the hearing, Gablinske presented a photo simulation compiled by Save Bristol Harbor, an organization working to preserve the health, safety, and integrity of the coastal waters and natural resources of Bristol, outlining LNG tankers’ route through Rhode Island’s waters. The slides showed the tankers passing under the Pell and Mount Hope Bridges, clearly detailing that five feet of clearance is miniscule.
“While I have every confidence in the capabilities of the U.S. Coast Guard and the professional pilots that guide ships through our waters, I believe the margin for error is just too small,” said Gablinske at the hearing. “The Mount Hope Bridge is too valuable to our economy and our way of life to put it in jeopardy for any reason. For residents of Bristol, Warren and Aquidneck Island, the bridge not only connects our communities, but also links us to our jobs, schools, doctors, families and friends.”
He said that many residents cross over the Mount Hope Bridge several times a day and would be truly harmed- financially and otherwise- if the bridge were closed for an extended period of time for repairs after a collision. At the hearing, he recalled when the bridge was closed in 1985-1986 for repairs and called it a “hardship that none of us wish to repeat.”
While no studies have been done to predict what would happen if an LNG tanker collided with the Mount Hope Bridge and punctured a storage tank, the Sandia National Library did released a study noting that a terror attack on a tanker could cause a fire so hot that it would burn skin and damage buildings as far as a mile away.
However bill opponents say that the 25-foot requirement is overkill, and 1-3 feet is routinely considered safe clearance for marine traffic in other ports of call.
Still, Gablinske emphasized that the issue is not only about stopping LNG, but also about protecting two of the state’s most important arteries.
“Many of us here understand that this bill could serve as another stumbling block for the proposed LNG facility in Mount Hope Bay, but I want to emphasize that the bridges crossing our state are important assets that we need to protect and manage appropriately,” continued Representative Gablinske. “Clearly, the specter of enormous LNG tankers barely making it under the Mount Hope Bridge was the impetus for this bill, but the larger issue of bridge safety also comes into play as we seek to examine- and regulate- the kind of marine traffic that enters Rhode Island waters.”
Gablinske commended the Rhode Island Congressional delegation for working to solve the problem on a federal level, but felt that, in the interim, his legislation was an appropriate way to protect Rhode Islanders.
At the hearing, Representative Gablinske also emphasized that he is not against LNG as a source of energy, but feels strongly that we must be careful and reasonable about where to site these facilities- and Mount Hope Bay is the wrong place.
“The Mount Hope Bridge is simply too valuable to our way of life to risk for any venture,” he said.
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Newport, RI
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Thank you, Rep. Gablinske, for recognizing the invaluable resource that is Narragansett Bay and the threat LNG tanks pose to it.