Coast Guard blocks LNG terminal in Fall River

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

A proposed LNG terminal that whipped up public fears for its proximity to densely populated Fall River was blocked today by the US Coast Guard. It was determined that the narrow confines of the lower Taunton River and its bridges would make it unsafe for liquefied natural gas tankers.

US Coast Guard Captain Roy A. Nash wrote that the waterway is unsuitable for navigational safety, given the size, frequency, and type of marine traffic that the LNG terminal would bring.

A primary barrier was the old Brightman Street Bridge -- a decaying, structurally deficient drawbridge that area congressmen kept standing in an attempt to block outsized LNG tankers from the river.

Though the developer found a way around the bridge blockade -- proposing to send smaller tankers to the site more frequently -- Nash ruled that it would be too dangerous for tankers to navigate the old bridge and the new one replacing it. He also found that some segments of the river are not deep or wide enough for tankers to turn around, if necessary, and could require ships to back up or be towed long distances if they face trouble.

Weaver's Cove Energy immediately vowed to appeal the decision, saying that the recommendation "lacks the necessary factual support."

"The decision disregards critical facts in the record and introduces both new data and new concerns on which Weaver's Cove Energy was not provided an opportunity to comment," said a statement by the company, a subsidiary of Hess LNG.

The project has been despised by local residents and politicians who feared an accident or terrorist attack on LNG tankers that would travel the river to the terminal at the former Shell Oil site at least two or three times a week.

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