House Bill HR 4413 -- What the author describes below is exactly what the FAA has been doing all along -- way before the FERC.

Damn, that website looks good. Wonder who helped set it up?

http://www.gsenet.org/host/lng-logan


I ask again...

The question we still need answered by everyone's U.S. Congressional delegation and all local representation is --Do they endorse executive orders, by the President of the United States, that streamline environmental studies (PHL 17/35) that will park jets over population densities of 9000 people per square mile? The voters should know the answer to this question before we cast our votes in November, don't you think?


Stephen Donato
www.phl-caw.org


6/21/2004 -- Smells like FAA EIS process...Feds assert control over LNG terminal siting --Found this news article over the weekend. FERC must be taking lessons from FAA on how to permit controversial projects.--- It makes me wonder why FERC has stakeholder representation as part of the process at all. They came here and told us the public had a say," said Casi Callaway, director of the Mobile Bay Watch environmental group. "I think this is something that every legislator from city council person to federal senator should outright oppose, because if the public doesn't have a say in their own community, what is the purpose of having legislators?"





6/7/2004 LNG tankers will float past Salem's Nuke? --
EIS meeting is scheduled for June 9th @ the Holiday Inn Claymont, Delaware. The meeting is being hosted and the EIS is being prepared by Federal Energy Commission (FERC). Written comments are being excepted until June 21, 2004. Note: Even if DNREC does not issue a permit (dock is Delaware jurisdiction) FERC can still approve --they are looking for legislation to standardize the siting process for future LNG locations. How about they require no tankers to float within 1.5 miles of an active nuclear reactor? Download the pdf from DNREC: http://www.phl-caw.org/weblog/bpferc.pdf



[Snip from LNG COMMUNITY FOCUS website]

A new concern is House Bill H.R. 4413:

Another issue, which deeply concerns us is House Bill H.R. 4413 dated May 20, 2004 which was submitted to the House by Representative Lee Terry, R-Oklahoma. Our concern is with Section 1 Item 3 of H.R. 4413 which states: “Except as otherwise provided by Federal law, no State or local government may require a permit, license, concurrence, approval, certificate, or other form of authorization with respect to the siting, construction, expansion, or operation of a liquefied natural gas import terminal."


Latest Major Action on H.R. 4413:
June 7 2004 - Referred to house subcommittee.
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality.

Of course, the FERC has provided a Scope period to receive public comments on BP’s proposed LNG Import Terminal however with bills such as HR 4413 we really wonder if the Scope comments will even be considered. If HR 4413 passes the House and the Senate, we would like to venture wild guesses on what the Federal Government might attempt next:

Maybe next, the NRC will support and push through the Congress; legislation so that they can construct disposal sites for spent power plant nuclear waste without allowing comment from the State or the Community.

Maybe next, the U.S. Army will support and push through the Congress, legislation so that they can secretly dispose of nerve and chemical agents without comment from the State or the Community.

To the horror of residents of Salem and New Castle counties, they found out that from 1994 to 1996, 7,000 pounds of “neutralized byproducts” VX nerve agent was secretly processed at DuPont’s Chambers Works (Deepwater, NJ) wastewater treatment facility. Now the Army wants to neutralize a 1,269 ton VX stockpile located in Newport Indiana and ship the wastewater to DuPont’s Chambers Works for final processing. Thank goodness we still have our 1st Amendment rights to petition the Government for a redress of grievances and thank goodness elected officials stepped in to review this important issue. Of course bills similar to HR 4413 would eliminate the State’s and Community's ability to question the disposal of VX.

Maybe next, the DOE will support and push through the Congress, legislation so that they can secretly drill oil wells in any part of Alaska without comment from the State or the Community.

Maybe next, the US DOC will support and push through the Congress, legislation so that they can eliminate the US EPA and State environmental agencies. That would be sweet, now US companies’ can manufacture goods more competitively by eliminating the expensive cost of controlling hazardous emissions. A Wall Street bottom-line dream and a communities’ environmental nightmare.

Maybe next, the administration will change our democratic form of government in order to nationalize any project they wish, by replace our government with the following:

Internet definition: “Control of the economy through corporativism, in which the formal structures of private ownership of industry are supposedly maintained but in which both labour and capitalists must accept the most detailed state regulation and extensive wage and price controls. These mechanisms are intended to assure the precedence of the regime’s objectives over the private interests of the public.”

The above “maybes and wild guess what ifs” paint a sad portrait of the America we love.

The FERC is basically preventing our local elected officials from commenting on the proposed BP LNG Import Terminal. BP has also ignored the State of Delaware concerning the CZA (Coastal Zone Act). The Fed is painting a scary picture by eliminating our 1st Amendment rights "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.

Americans have to unite to fight the flood of LNG projects and protect the safety of our communities and our constitutional rights.

The above “maybes and wild guess what ifs” paint a sad portrait of the America we love.   ¶ 9/24/2004