Fall River (MA) mayor thrust into spotlight for LNG debate

[Eugene]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2005/07/17/fall_river_mayor_thrust_into_spotlight_for_lng_debate/

Fall River mayor thrust into spotlight for LNG debate

By Richard C. Lewis, Associated Press Writer | July 17, 2005

FALL RIVER, Mass. --Mayor Edward Lambert Jr. is a popular man
these days.

His opposition to a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall
River has placed him at the center of a growing national debate over
LNG, and endeared him to residents of this former mill city.

<snip>

When Weaver's Cove Energy proposed its LNG shipment terminal in late
2001, offering tax money and jobs, it expected residents accustomed
to big industries and tough times to gladly accept.

Lambert, initially open to the idea, has since done an about-face.
He won't meet anymore with the company, and calls himself a sworn
enemy to the project -- which he says would be unsafe and ruin the
city's economic development plans.

full article

[NNadir]

1. Where does the mayor suggest the terminal go alternatively?

[Eugene]

3. Another company proposes an offshore terminal in Massachusetts Bay

That may be another environmental fight altogether.

[thegreatwildebeest]

4. The better question is...

...where does that LNG come from? Is it from South American deposits, gained from moving indigenous people off their land in order to satisfy developed countries energy consumption? The question isn't, where should the LNG terminal go, but rather, why is it being built at all, when the pipelines that supply it are known environmental and human rights disasters?

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Shipping Bulk LNG

Many years ago, when I was much younger and much thinner and much better looking -- and this book came out in a red binding-->

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I was one of the gofers and staffies and lackies on the original safety evaluation of bulk marine shipment of LNG. My job was to collect the published data on the "ultimate" properties of the materials used to fabricate that great big sphere.

<>


One of the holy grails that we were looking for was some kind of solid or liquid "solvent" or "alloy" for the liquid methane - much like the acetone used as a solvent for acetylene - or Rare Earth - Nickel and Titanium-Nickel alloys used in NiMH batteries and some modes of shipping hydrogen. I think it's an interesting challenge - a good application of polymer science and physical chemistry with some mechanistic models of "hydrogen bonding" etc. (without doing any lab work or math modelling - I would guess some kind of a porous, very weakly ionized ion exchange membrane would be the first thing to try).

We never did find the "alloy" or "solvent" - but I think it's an interesting project for some young entrepreneurial PhD candidate.

Meanwhile - I would stick with our recommendations of 30+ years ago -- close the air space and put a security net around the LNG tanker; and certainly very tight harbor traffic controls.

And if I lived in the North Bay - I wouldn't sell my house - but I would certainly want the Coast Guard and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Marine Detachment to put a tight net around it (the LNG tanker - NOT my house) -- and control or close the port and air spece while the LNG tanker was moving in "MY" San Francisco Bay.