Rejection brings new energy future

4/11/08
The end of Broadwater doesn’t mean the end of problems surrounding the region’s energy future. But it does show that as we search for the right way to make changes, we can all recognize the wrong way.
New York state decided to reject the proposal to moor a liquefied natural gas plant in the middle of Long Island Sound, bringing an end to at least one phase of a debate that united Connecticut politicians like few issues before it. A court challenge is inevitable, but that would have been true had New York approved the plant, too.
Former N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer had provided little indication which way he was leaning, and since the terminal would have been entirely in New York waters — though almost as close to Connecticut — it was up to the federal government and Albany to make a choice. With Spitzer out, his successor, Gov. David Paterson, wasted little time in making the right decision in formally opposing the project.
Broadwater was a bad idea environmentally — the Sound has been through enough in recent decades, and the last thing it needs is to bring a new wave of mass industrialization. It was a bad idea for safety reasons — every shipment of LNG to the terminal would have required Coast Guard protection and a virtual shutting-down of the Sound’s narrow opening into the Atlantic Ocean. And it was a bad idea for business — huge swaths of water would have been designated off-limits for commercial or pleasure boats to limit risk.
With Broadwater rejected, though, something else will soon take its place. Long Island needs energy, and a lot of it. New York City is the most energy-efficient settlement in the country, but it’s also expected to add a million people in the coming years, all of whom will add to the already enormous energy demands.
And Connecticut itself is hardly immune. Without a top-to-bottom reassessment of our energy needs and ways we can meet them, the next Broadwater will be here before we know it. The political consensus forged on opposing it must now focus on making sure the problem does not become chronic.