Bob Everton, 64, managed a chemical distribution center one lot over from KeySpan Corp.’s liquefied natural gas terminal at Providence’s Fields Point for almost 20 years. And though he vividly remembers the time when a scrap metal ship burst into flames within 200 yards of the LNG terminal, there were never any catastrophes involving the facility’s highly flammable fuel, he said.
“My experience being a next-door neighbor of that LNG plant was very good,” said Everton, who worked at the chemical distribution center until 1998.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
Yet, now the project manager of a mixed-use development that includes condominiums on East Providence’s waterfront, Everton finds his interests in conflict with KeySpan’s embattled proposal to spend $100 million to expand its LNG tank across the river in Providence.
“I don’t have the emotional attachment that other people have, but obviously the perception that other people have of those (LNG tanks) as possible terrorist targets would not be good for residential development,” Everton said in an interview on July 14, about two weeks after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied Brooklyn, N.Y.-based KeySpan’s proposal.
However, if the FERC had accepted KeySpan’s proposal, Everton would have moved forward with plans to build 490 condos, a marina, a restaurant, and 75,000 square feet of commercial space, he said.
Everton’s employer, New York-based GeoNova, isn’t the only developer unafraid to invest millions in the Providence or East Providence waterfronts – regardless of whether KeySpan expands its terminal to hold more LNG and accept larger shipments via marine tankers.
Yet Everton and other developers say a larger LNG facility would deter other investors from committing to projects in the area.
“We see (the FERC’s decision) as a big positive for East Providence,” said William J. Fazioli, East Providence’s city manager. “A big chunk of our waterfront is within sight of where the (LNG) tank was proposed.”
Both Providence and East Providence envision their waterfront areas, which had for decades been reserved as industrial sites, as bastions of economic development for each city. And though public officials primarily decried the LNG expansion as a safety threat, some see an enhanced facility and regular marine deliveries as an economic threat.
Developers had expressed concern to East Providence officials about the prospect of having large LNG tankers pulling into port on a regular basis, Fazioli noted. Much of the development under way includes residential units, and an LNG tanker that is “three football fields long is an ominous thing to look out on from your condo,” the city manager said.
Construction projects are already well under way in East Providence’s waterfront district.
The 54-unit Ross Commons Condominium Community is under construction on Roger Williams Avenue in Rumford about two miles north of the LNG facility. Also, GeoNova has finished removing industrial contamination of their 27-acre site on Bourne Avenue, and has begun submitting development plans to the city.
Another project in the review process is a 148-unit assisted-living facility proposed by Providence’s Tockwotton Home. And Aspen Aerogels has submitted plans to restore a 146,000-square-foot plant, where it plans to move manufacturing operations of high-tech insulation products from Northborough, Mass.
“It’s hard enough to get developers to develop (former industrial) sites,” said Fazioli. But when you add the prospect that a flammable LNG tanker would be traveling past their development every week, “it’s even more difficult,” he added.
Developers of two projects along Providence’s waterfront said the LNG expansion would scare away further investment in the area, but neither had plans to abandon their plans if federal regulators had approved KeySpan’s proposal.
“From my own perspective, I didn’t see the LNG expansion as a major danger or major threat,” said Patrick Conley, a Providence attorney, who aims to build a mixed-use development on an 11-acre industrial site he owns on Allens Avenue.
“(The LNG plan) didn’t cause me concern, other than it might have caused others to be (apprehensive) about investing in the area,” he added.
Conley has grand plans for his waterfront property, the site of the former Cargill Energy fuel plant and current home of Pete’s Tire Barn. His vision is to construct a 133-room hotel, a 1,000-car garage, and two 18- to 20-story buildings to accommodate some 250 luxury condos. On the street side of the property, plans are to construct a smaller building of condos with affordably priced units and to complete renovations of the former State Pier No. 1 building (which he now calls Conley’s Wharf) to house 37,000 square feet of artist studios, a 5,500-square-foot function room and a 3,500-square-foot banquet hall. He is talking about building a 400-slip marina and a seafood restaurant on a docked barge, as well.
An LNG expansion wouldn’t foil any of these plans, said Conley, who believes the area’s zoning restrictions, existing industrial sites, and adult entertainment businesses there are larger roadblocks to the waterfront’s revitalization.
Still, another developer said the LNG upgrade would have caused him to reconsider plans to build on the waterfront. Baltimore-based developer Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. has committed to a $50-million project to restore the former Narragansett Electric Co. power plant that lies along the waterfront north of the Point Street Bridge. The firm intends to restore the building to house 40 condos, retail and commercial business, and a downsized version of the Heritage Harbor Museum.
Asked how they would have treated their project if FERC had accepted KeySpan’s proposal, Struever Bros. Providence senior development director John A. Sinnott said: “I think we would probably rethink it. (The LNG expansion) would make it a lot more difficult.”
The perception of the facility as a safety threat “would make developers and people more nervous,” he added.
Though the state needs LNG as part of its energy portfolio, the risks outweigh the gains when considering the dangers of expanding the facility in a densely populated area like Providence’s waterfront, said Michael McMahon, executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
“From an EDC point of view,” McMahon said, “KeySpan not expanding on our waterfront is OK.”
While passing on the Providence proposal, FERC approved plans submitted by Weaver’s Cove Energy to build an 800-cubic-foot LNG tank at Weaver’s Cove in Fall River. Plans call for the expanded LNG facility to accept marine shipments via tankers.
The tankers proposed route up Narragansett Bay takes it under the Pell Bridge, which links Jamestown and Newport, and the Mount Hope Bridge connecting Bristol and Portsmouth. The FERC has said the tankers would be escorted by the Coast Guard while in the bay.
