Contact: Monica Huertas 401-280-4059, monicavchuertas@gmail.com
FOLLOWING GAS LEAK, NO LNG IN PVD COALITION CALLS FOR END TO PROPOSED GAS LIQUEFACTION FACILITY
April 1, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Providence, RI - After the massive rupture of a National Grid high pressure fracked-gas pipeline on Allens Ave, members of the No LNG in PVD Coalition are demanding that the company drop their proposal to build a LNG (liquefied natural gas) “liquefaction” facility in the Port of Providence. The gas line ruptured occurred at substation just over a mile from the proposed site of the liquefaction facility. Both locations are connection points where Spectra’s controversial high pressure fracked gas pipeline enters the Providence gas distribution system.
No LNG in PVD has consistently raised concerns about environmental racism and the danger of having so many toxic and hazardous fossil fuel and chemical facilities in South Providence, and next to the hospitals. “Southside should not be a sacrifice zone, but that entire port complex is a disaster waiting to happen. Last night it almost did, and the results would have been catastrophic,” said Monica Huertas, Washington Park resident and No LNG in PVD campaign coordinator.
In 2005, a proposed LNG import facility was rejected due to safety issues and the existing LNG storage tank not meeting the required standards. National Grid is now proposing to use fracked gas from the Spectra pipeline and manufacture LNG on site, to be exported by truck. National Grid had planned to also build a “bund wall” around the tank as a safety feature but recently told FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, that they are no longer planning to build this safety feature.
If the accident on Wednesday had been Liquefied Natural Gas there would have been a much larger spill and much higher risk of immense disaster. We already know that Grid's liquefaction facility is expensive, dangerous, unnecessary and piling on the burden of pollution residents on the southside are exposed to every day, but we need to ACT NOW and make sure the decision makers and people in power realize just how dangerous it is to add a liquefaction facility to this area that has seen a major natural gas line rupture, a ethanol "bomb" train accident and already houses incredibly dangerous and dirty fossil fuel storage and chemical processing facilities. The safety of our residents, our hospitals and our schools are more important than National Grid's profits.
Incidents like the gas leak, the ethanol train derailment, and the proposed LNG facility are examples of the risks facing this community. This is a clear example of environmental racism as all 11 of the EPA's identified toxic polluters in Providence are already in this zip code, which is predominantly low-income people of color.
The impact and dangers of this project are enormous and have been outlined by the EJ League in detail here: http://www.rifuture.org/ejlri-1.html
The petition to oppose the LNG facility can be signed here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-lng-in-pvd
FOLLOWING GAS LEAK, NO LNG IN PVD COALITION CALLS FOR END TO PROPOSED GAS LIQUEFACTION FACILITY
April 1, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Providence, RI - After the massive rupture of a National Grid high pressure fracked-gas pipeline on Allens Ave, members of the No LNG in PVD Coalition are demanding that the company drop their proposal to build a LNG (liquefied natural gas) “liquefaction” facility in the Port of Providence. The gas line ruptured occurred at substation just over a mile from the proposed site of the liquefaction facility. Both locations are connection points where Spectra’s controversial high pressure fracked gas pipeline enters the Providence gas distribution system.
No LNG in PVD has consistently raised concerns about environmental racism and the danger of having so many toxic and hazardous fossil fuel and chemical facilities in South Providence, and next to the hospitals. “Southside should not be a sacrifice zone, but that entire port complex is a disaster waiting to happen. Last night it almost did, and the results would have been catastrophic,” said Monica Huertas, Washington Park resident and No LNG in PVD campaign coordinator.
In 2005, a proposed LNG import facility was rejected due to safety issues and the existing LNG storage tank not meeting the required standards. National Grid is now proposing to use fracked gas from the Spectra pipeline and manufacture LNG on site, to be exported by truck. National Grid had planned to also build a “bund wall” around the tank as a safety feature but recently told FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, that they are no longer planning to build this safety feature.
If the accident on Wednesday had been Liquefied Natural Gas there would have been a much larger spill and much higher risk of immense disaster. We already know that Grid's liquefaction facility is expensive, dangerous, unnecessary and piling on the burden of pollution residents on the southside are exposed to every day, but we need to ACT NOW and make sure the decision makers and people in power realize just how dangerous it is to add a liquefaction facility to this area that has seen a major natural gas line rupture, a ethanol "bomb" train accident and already houses incredibly dangerous and dirty fossil fuel storage and chemical processing facilities. The safety of our residents, our hospitals and our schools are more important than National Grid's profits.
Incidents like the gas leak, the ethanol train derailment, and the proposed LNG facility are examples of the risks facing this community. This is a clear example of environmental racism as all 11 of the EPA's identified toxic polluters in Providence are already in this zip code, which is predominantly low-income people of color.
The impact and dangers of this project are enormous and have been outlined by the EJ League in detail here: http://www.rifuture.org/ejlri-1.html
The petition to oppose the LNG facility can be signed here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-lng-in-pvd
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