The sponsors of Weaver’s Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) project have called on FERC to reject “outright” the U.S. Navy’s request for late intervention in the controversial case to site the proposed terminal in Fall River, MA.

The claim by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division (NUWC) in Newport, RI, “to have acquired only belated knowledge of the ‘status’ of the Weaver’s Cove project is profoundly disingenuous,” Weaver’s Cove told FERC [CP04-36]. “Tellingly, the NUWC does not claim to have been unaware of the Weaver’s Cove project, just its status.”

There is no way that the Navy could have been blind to the LNG project in light of the intensive media attention that it attracted, the length of time in processing the Weaver’s Cove application at FERC, and the location of the NUWC in Newport, Weaver’s Cove said. The Navy “has simply not shown any cause, let alone good cause, for its tardiness” in seeking to intervene in the case.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the Weaver’s Cove LNG project in July. The Navy, having suddenly discovered that LNG cargoes might be traversing their torpedo testing grounds in the Narragansett Bay, last Friday joined a growing chorus of parties asking FERC to reconsider its decision clearing the way for the Fall River LNG project (see Daily GPI, Aug. 17). The Navy contends the facilities would interfere with its testing of multi-million dollar submarines, torpedoes and sonar systems.

Weaver’s Cove also opposed the Navy’s request for FERC to reopen the evidentiary record in the case, calling it completely unwarranted. “At this late juncture, there is no basis to reopen the record for the purpose of taking ‘additional evidence.'”

The issue of the Navy’s testing activities in the lower Narragansett Bay are not properly before this Commission, but rather can, if necessary, be addressed by the U.S. Coast Guard, Weaver’s Cove said.

“LNG tankers transiting to the Weaver’s Cove terminal will be subject to exactly the same limitations as any other maritime traffic already transiting through the NUWC’s restricted area, and the NUWC has failed to show why LNG vessels should be treated differently. Moreover, such transits will not ‘significantly and adversely impact in-water testing’ being conducted by the NUWC, as is alleged.”

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