Jan. 13, 2008
By Ken Krayeske • 10:45 PM EST
This is an LNG tanker that Shell Oil wants to attract to Long Island Sound. It's up to Gov. Eliot Spitzer to stop it. The FERC said okay to Shell's Broadwater application, Gov. Rell (hooray!) said the FERC was stupid. For scale's sake, the fishing boat to the left of the tanker is probably 60 feet long.
Okay, this is a brainstorm blog. I'm trying to suss out good ideas from bad for a dead tree media column this week, and these topics have been itching my brain.
In New York state, good old Gov. Eliot Spitzer in his state of the state address recently proposed free college tuition for returning vets serving in the War on Terror; the Empire State's version of a G.I. bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's a start. Next step would see Gov. Spitzer exercise his constitution to block the construction of Broadwater, Shell Oil's much-sought-after LNG regassification plant slated for the middle of Long Island Sound.
Friday afternoon, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the corporate monster's construction, pending New York State environmental approval. Spitzer has until Feb. 12 to nix the plan. Pundits (not pollsters) recently predicted he would say no, but a year ago, the Conventional Wisdom had him greenlighting the energy infrastructure project.
But now, times are different. In an angry press release, Gov. M. Jodi Rell raged at how the FERC fucked up by approving Shell's permit application.
"Governor M. Jodi Rell today utterly rejected the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s environmental impact study of the proposed Broadwater liquefied natural gas facility, saying FERC’s conclusion that the project would have little effect on the
Long Island Sound is ludicrous. 'We will challenge this absurd and indefensible agency decision in court,' Governor Rell said."
Hooray, Jodi! We'll see you on the picket flotilla. Next up: massive conservation efforts, starting with hiring a manager to oversee the state Office of Brownfield Remediation and Development.
This office is mandated by new legislation, which probably emerged from a December 1998 Legislative Program Review and Investidgations Committee report titled Brownfields in Committee (hey, government may be slow, but it shows some signs of life by responding to this issue).
According to this report, Connecticut has between 622 and 950 brownfields. 1,000 Friends thinks the number is much higher. Let's see who the chief executive hires for this post.
And props to Bryan over at the Mac store in West Farms. He is a 40-Year Plan fan, and on Saturday afternoon when I purchased a new iPod accessory, that place was hopping like a Maldivian fish market.
