The 10:00 news tonight said that the plan for putting the LNG terminal in Boston harbor could be dead:btu:

Well that would be a good thing, but they are going to find someplace to put it

I hope the plans for the one in Long Island Sound die too.

LNG plan for harbor is shelved
Legislators say island terminal needs study
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | March 16, 2006

A controversial proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Outer Brewster Island in Boston Harbor was shelved yesterday by a legislative committee, thrilling environmentalists who worried that industrial development would devastate the federally protected parkland.

The committee voted to send the proposal to a study committee -- a step that effectively derails the proposal for now -- but state lawmakers and environmentalists said they expect the measure to resurface in some form. The company that wants to build the terminal, AES Corp. of Virginia, vowed to press on with its proposal.

The proposal would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, which is necessary to convert parkland to another use, plus approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the support of the state's environmental secretary, who criticized the project during a recent legislative hearing.

''There are still 34 islands in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area -- for now," said Bruce Berman, communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, who had led a coalition of environmental groups fighting the plan. ''Sometimes bad bills just don't go away. Like boomerangs, they come back, and we're going to stay vigilant."

In a prepared statement, a representative of AES Corp. said that he was not surprised by the outcome and that the company will continue to seek legislative approval.

''As this was a late-filed bill and had a public hearing just last week, we expected the bill to spend time in a study committee, so that technical changes could be considered," said Aaron Samson, managing director of Battery Rock LLC, the local development company formed by AES for the project.

AES Corp., backed by a high-powered local team of Beacon Hill lobbyists, proposed to lease the island from the state to build a $500 million LNG facility there and increase the supply of natural gas to the region.

But legislators complained that the bill that would have authorized the lease was tailor-made for the company, written to ensure that only AES would qualify to bid on the lease. And, they said, the bill would have postponed an environmental review of the project until the 99-year lease was signed, blunting the importance of the review.

The environmentalists and harbor advocates balked at the idea of surrendering public parkland to a corporate interest and said the development would destroy the habitat for breeding ibis and harbor seals. One of 34 harbor islands designated a national park area in 1996, Outer Brewster lies near the iconic Boston Light on Little Brewster Island.

''There should never be a case where we as government custodians cut a sweetheart deal for an energy corporation or any other corporation," said Senator Mark C. Montigny, Senate cochairman of the 17-member Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures, and State Assets, which overwhelmingly agreed to shelve the proposal. ''I'm not going to let something that smells that badly leave a committee where I have to then defend it."

With demand for natural gas soaring, energy companies have proposed several new LNG terminals, often drawing fierce opposition from local residents concerned about the potential for a terrorist attack on a tanker. The existing LNG terminal in Everett is viewed as especially worrisome because tankers delivering LNG pass through Boston's inner harbor. Mayor Thomas M. Menino has led other local politicians in trying to phase out LNG deliveries to the Everett facility.

The Outer Brewster proposal was considered attractive by its supporters because deliveries would occur offshore. When the proposal was unveiled last year, backers said that tankers would make 50 to 80 LNG deliveries to the site each year and that gas would be sent ashore via a new undersea pipeline that would connect with an existing gas line.

But the proposal offered no guarantee of closing the Everett terminal or blocking an alternative project proposed by another gas company close to neighborhoods in Fall River.

''If there was somebody giving the guarantee that Fall River was dead and Everett was closed, you'd have a lot more sympathetic ear from the public and their proxy, us," Montigny said.

Last month, New England's congressional delegation wrote to US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman seeking a more coherent strategy for reviewing the various terminals that have been proposed recently, including four new facilities proposed in Massachusetts.

''Given all the different possibilities, there's no reason to site these things in public parklands or in a densely populated urban area," said Sue Reid, staff lawyer for the Conservation Law Foundation.

The AES proposal ignited a public relations battle over the recreational value of the islands and the competing value of increased LNG supply. Berman, who opposed the project, sent regular e-mails to journalists and policymakers with photos depicting a serene island frequented by seals and egrets. Rob Gray, a consultant working for AES, countered with photos showing graffiti in the island's abandoned military barracks and a cove littered with debris. And Regan Communications, also working for AES, helped to establish a group of citizens who publicly supported the AES plan and suggested it would close the Everett terminal.

Senator Robert L. Hedlund, a Weymouth Republican who is on the committee, said his opposition to the project stemmed from his love of the islands.

''If you could convince me you could segregate this one island and wouldn't impact the parks system, then I would reconsider -- but you can't," he said. ''I take great exception to the characterization of the island by AES as some kind of an industrial wasteland."

Hedlund said he became a ''little bit nervous," in discussing the issue with the governor, who sounded amenable to the project.

The Associated Press previously reported that Romney's former environmental chief, Douglas I. Foy, who is friendly with AES cofounder Roger Sant, helped arrange a meeting between Sant and Romney, who also knew Sant from their work on the corporate board of Marriott International.

However, during the committee's hearing on the bill last week, the administration was critical of the proposal. ''I am mindful of our regional energy needs and our ongoing need for gas supplies," Stephen Pritchard, Romney's environmental secretary, was quoted as saying in his testimony. ''In this instance, however, we must not act . . . before understanding the full consequences of our actions."

Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.