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Memorializing Council’s opposition to the proposed project to expand PGW’s Port Richmond liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility into an import terminal facility, and expressing Council’s intention not to enact any legislation needed to implement that project, and further expressing Council’s unqualified opposition to any project that would create an LNG shipping terminal within the City of Philadelphia or that would cause loaded LNG tankers to regularly traverse the Delaware River alongside the City of Philadelphia.
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WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) has issued Requests for Proposals for a project that would expand PGW’s Port Richmond liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility into an import terminal facility that would receive regular shipments of LNG from tankers that would traverse the Delaware River all along its Philadelphia frontage; and
WHEREAS, The potential risk created by terrorists targeting LNG shipments has been well documented. The Sandia National Laboratories, in a report entitled “Guidance on Risk Analysis and Safety Implications of a Large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Spill Over Water,” concluded that a terrorist attack on a LNG tanker, in the worst case scenario, could cause second-degree burns to people more than a mile away from the tanker. Further, are port issued in May 2005 by national security analyst Richard Clarke, at the request of Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch, concluded that such a terrorist attack was consistent with the demonstrated intent and capability of known terrorist organizations; that there “is also a basis to judge that likely enhanced security measures would not significantly reduce the risk,” and that there are “significant grounds to conclude that a high risk exists of catastrophic damage from the types of attacks terrorists are capable of mounting”; and
WHEREAS, It is difficult to imagine a worse location for an LNG shipping terminal than Port Richmond. The proposed terminal would require loaded LNG tankers, on a regular basis, to travel along the Delaware River close to areas of high population density, close to the Philadelphia International Airport, close to refineries, close to the professional sports stadiums and the large crowds those stadiums attract, close to Center City Philadelphia, and close to the housing, commercial and institutional development the City of Philadelphia and the City of Camden have attracted and seek to attract to their waterfronts; and
WHEREAS, While a successful terrorist attack on an LNG tanker or an LNG shipping facility may never occur, the reality in the post-9/11 world is that if the Port Richmond LNG shipping terminal is built, the City and the region will need to incur extraordinary expenses to prevent terrorist attacks and to be ready to respond to the unimaginable, should preventive measures fail; and
WHEREAS, There are four LNG terminals in the continental United States, the closest being Everett, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, which has similar demographics to Philadelphia. It costs the City of Boston approximately $80,000 every time a tanker makes a trip to its harbor. Once a tanker enters the harbor, the Coast Guard maintains command and control. The State Police and Boston Police Department as well as agents from the Massachusetts Environmental Police meet the LNG tanker for escort. A state police helicopter hovers above the LNG tanker and all bridge and maritime traffic cease. Flights must also be redirected to and from the airport. Boston PD is forced to take regular patrol units out of service and place them along the shoreline for added security. Prior to the tanker’s arrival at the import terminal, a team of nine state police dive the pier and adjacent waters. While the ship is in port, both state and city police maintain a 24-hour detail inside the LNG import facility and its surrounding area; and
WHEREAS, It is difficult to believe that the City could successfully transfer all the current and future costs of preventing and responding to a terrorist attack to a private developer. Moreover, the people of the City and the region will incur non-financial costs that can never be compensated, from the inconvenience created by regular bridge closures (as is done for LNG facilities in other areas), to living with the knowledge that regular LNG shipments are an inviting target for terrorists; and
WHEREAS, Unlike other municipalities, which are preempted from regulating LNG shipments and are at the mercy of federal regulators who will decide whether LNG projects will be built in their areas, the City of Philadelphia is in the unique and enviable position, as proprietor of the Gas Works and owner of the Port Richmond facility, to say “no” to LNG tankers sailing up the Delaware River and unloading in Port Richmond; now, therefore,
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,
THAT The Council hereby memorializes its opposition to the proposed project to expand PGW’s Port Richmond LNG facility into an import terminal facility, and expresses its intention not to enact any legislation needed to implement that project.
FURTHER RESOLVED, THAT the Council expresses its unqualified opposition to any project that would create an LNG shipping terminal within the City of Philadelphia, or that would cause loaded LNG tankers to regularly traverse the Delaware River alongside the City of Philadelphia.
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