Delaware’s environmental agency last Thursday rejected BP’s application to build an off-loading pier to serve a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal along the Delaware River in Logan Township, NJ.

John A. Hughes, secretary of the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, determined that the proposed LNG off-loading pier that would extend into the Delaware River was prohibited by the state’s Coastal Zone Act. Under the law, the project “represents a prohibited offshore bulk product transfer facility” with no accompanying manufacturing use that would qualify it for an exemption, he said. In addition, the facility “exhibits characteristics sufficient to deem it a heavy industry,” which is also barred under the act.

The proposed pier facility would be used to transfer LNG from ships in the Delaware River to storage and regasification facilities in New Jersey. Hughes contends that Delaware has jurisdiction over the pier because it juts into the Delaware River.

Hughes said his decision “[did] not come without some appreciation of the need for additional natural gas supplies in this country nor the relative cleanliness of natural gas compared to other energy fuels.” BP has until Feb. 20 to appeal the decision.

Crown Landing LLC, a subsidiary of BP, is seeking to build an LNG import terminal in Logan Township, NJ, with a docking site that lies within Delaware’s Coastal Zone. The pier would accommodate LNG carriers of up to 200,000 cubic meters in capacity. The proposed import terminal would have a send-out capability of 1.2 Bcf/d, and is targeted for in-service in 2009.

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