Providence Journal Editorial: LNG to the rescue

Posted on 06 April 2011 Tags: energy cost savings &bull gas supply &bull recreational boating &bull safety

Today’s Providence Journal features an editorial noting how Japan’s LNG terminals are serving as a critical source of energy for the earthquake and tsunami stricken nation.

Editorial: LNG to the rescue

Local politicians, trolling for popularity, have exploited citizens’ highly exaggerated fears of a liquefied natural-gas project planned for Fall River. No energy source is perfectly safe — not oil, gas, coal or nuclear. (Wind, solar and geothermal probably come closest to near 100 percent safety.)

But it makes sense, in these times, to have a diverse supply of energy, including relatively cheap, abundant and safe LNG.

Certainly, earthquake, tsunami-and-nuclear-crisis-ravaged Japan is discovering that. To provide crucial, life-saving energy after severe damage to nuclear plants there, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. dramatically stepped up shipments of LNG to its shoreline facilities. That has helped keep people warm and the economy going.

Unlike nuclear plants, LNG facilities came through Japan’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in reasonably good shape. Sendai LNG, a small facility, suffered widespread damage but not, apparently, to its storage tanks. Other facilities are in good shape, able to receive the crucial energy supply.

Granted, our region is much less susceptible to natural disaster than Japan. Indeed, it is one of the least susceptible to such crises of any heavily populated place in the world — the rare severe hurricane and the frequent nor’easters notwithstanding. Yes, there is a small quake danger, but nothing like Japan’s.

Regular LNG shipments to the new Weaver’s Cove facility — most often during the cold-weather months, when there are few recreational boaters on Mount Hope and Narragansett bays — would tend to lower the cost of energy to our region, reduce the need to clutter dangerous highways with heavily polluting trucks, and provide a comparatively clean-burning fuel.

And you never know when you will need a more diverse supply of energy.