The company proposing to bring in the first shipments of liquified natural gas to Hawaii told federal regulators that concerns about the project expressed by the state Department of Transportation and two nonprofit groups are either unfounded or have been resolved.
Hawaii Gas, formerly known as The Gas Co., is seeking approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ship liquefied natural gas from the West Coast starting later this year in refrigerated tanks mounted inside shipping containers.
Although the quantities of LNG covered by the FERC application are relatively small, Hawaii Gas officials say later phases of the project envision large-scale shipments that could replace high-priced oil used for electricity generation.
Officials from the state Department of Transportation said in a regulatory filing last month they were concerned there might not be enough "safety distance" between the proposed Hawaii Gas facility at Honolulu Harbor and the surrounding area. The facility would include a mobile "regasification" unit at Pier 38 that would take the LNG from a container, convert it back into its gaseous form and inject it into an existing Hawaii Gas pipeline.
Transportation officials said they were mainly concerned with the facility’s proximity to vehicles on Nimitz Highway and on the roadway that runs through the adjacent Domestic Commercial Fishing Village.
The officials also told regulators that Hawaii Gas needs to better explain the expected traffic impact along Nimitz Highway, and ensure that it conducts adequate community outreach. In addition, DOT requested a written commitment that Hawaii Gas will comply with all state environmental and regulatory requirements.
In a response filed with FERC on Friday, an attorney for Hawaii Gas said company officials met with the department and satisfied the state’s concerns.
Because the regasification unit would be mobile, it would be exempt from federal regulations requiring "exclusion zones" for LNG facilities, attorney G. Scott Binnings wrote in the filing.
Regarding concerns about potential traffic impacts, Hawaii Gas said although it did not conduct a formal traffic study, it "does not foresee any significant traffic impacts" because the number of shipping containers will be limited to one or two per day. In addition, Hawaii Gas assured the department it will comply with all public outreach obligations and environmental regulations as required under state law, Binnings added.
The Blue Planet Foundation and the national office of the Sierra Club are opposing the Hawaii Gas plan. Among the concerns the groups expressed in documents filed last month with FERC is that shipping in LNG is bad public policy because it runs contrary to the state’s push to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel, and it would encourage the expanded use of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas at production sites on the mainland.
"These concerns are wholly outside the scope of this proceeding," Binnings wrote. "The company has asked the Commission for a very limited authorization in order to shore up gas supplies in anticipation of potential short-term supply disruptions. It would be inappropriate to delay the processing of the company’s application until industry-wide regulatory changes are implemented."
Binnings also dismissed the groups’ contention that FERC should not sign off on the first phase until it reviews the potential impact of the entire project.
"The Phase 1 facilities are mobile and temporary and will not be an integral part of the Phase 2 and Phase 3 facilities, should those facilities ever be constructed. Thus, Phase 1 is not an integral part of Phase 2 and Phase 3, but an independent and temporary project," he wrote.
