LNG Tank Plan Blasted
Daniel Fowler, Herald New Staff
Reporter - 3/11/2004
Politicians and local activists Wednesday night called on regular citizens and organizations to join together as one in the battle to prevent Weaver's Cove Energy from building a liquefied natural gas import terminal in the city.
The plea was made during the Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities, inaugural meeting, a roughly one-and-a-half hour gathering at St. Anne's Fraternity that alternated between a pep rally and an informational session. Politicians encouraged the audience to become active in the fight against the LNG facility and Al Lima, director of research for Green Futures, a local environmental group, gave a presentation on the specifics of the facility and the potential dangers of LNG.
Joseph Carvalho, the coalition's acting chairman, detailed steps for people to take to oppose Weaver Cove's plan. "You can never underestimate the power that you have as an individual," Carvalho told the approximately 110 people in attendance. Carvalho urged local residents to write letters to state leaders voicing opposition to the facility and to have friends and family members sign petitions, distributed at the meeting, calling for the "responsible siting" of LNG facilities "in areas removed from population centers or, preferably, sited offshore." "We oppose ill-conceived proposals that call for construction and operation of mega LNG import, storage, vaporization and distribution facilities anywhere in populated areas," the petition states. Carvalho also asked those in attendance to recruit people and organizations to join the coalition. "If we do these things, we can absolutely be successful with this" opposition, Carvalho said.
Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr., state Rep. David B. Sullivan, D-Fall River and City Councilors Joseph Camara and Patricia Casey were the politicians who gave speeches. "If we as a community believe that this project should not happen then we can't sit idly by," Lambert said. "We need to stand up for ourselves. We need our voices to be heard."
Sullivan told the crowd, "Fall River is not an area where we should be having a tank this size ... with the material that's in it." "As far as I'm concerned it's a bomb," he said.
The coalition was formed as a result of a joint effort by Green Futures and Casey. "My main thing is to bring the information to the people to make them realize how important this is to all of us not just the people" in the North End "where they are designating the actual LNG facility," Casey said last week.
A number of local organizations including the Coalition for Social Justice, Stop Weaver's Cove, the Sandy Beach Association, the North End Association and Green Futures have already joined the Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG facilities.
Carvalho said he wants as many individuals and organizations as possible to join the coalition. "Share this information with everyone you can," he implored the audience.
According to Susan Miozza, who lives in the city's North End, the meeting galvanized her to become more active in the fight against the LNG facility. "I live up the street from where they are going to build it," she said. "I don't want that in my backyard."
Carvalho said Wednesday's meeting
was just the beginning as the coalition will have more meetings
and sponsor events in the future. "There will be more action
for sure," he said.