Rhode Island
Passes Bill on
LNG Ship Ops
The House of Representatives voted 66-
0 to approve legislation introduced by
Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr. to require
any LNG tanker to have an LNG-certified
American master mariner present on each
trip through Rhode Island waters and dur-
ing transfer of cargo.
Representative Gallison, chairman of
the Special House Commission to Study
the Transportation of Liquefied Natural
Gas and a Democrat who represents Dis-
trict 69 in Bristol and Portsmouth, pro-
posed the legislation (2005 - H5362Aaa)
as a safety measure should either of the
two proposed local LNG terminal projects
go forward. "If either of these LNG pro-
jects are approved, we need this assurance
that there's someone on board with no
stake in the delivery who knows how to
identify safety problems on LNG tankers
and would have no problem halting the
shipment if there's a safety problem," said
Representative Gallison, who has been at
the forefront of the efforts to fight the pro-
posed Weaver's Cove LNG terminal in
Fall River, Mass., and the expansion of
the Keyspan LNG terminal in Providence.
"We have too many people living and
working along the route that these tankers
would take to take any chances with safe-
ty." The bill would require every LNG
tanker entering Rhode Island waters to
have an LNG-certified, federally licensed
master mariner on board any time it enters
Rhode Island waters north of a line
between Sakonnet Point and Point Judith.
The master mariner would advise the
ship's crew to perform any actions neces-
sary to protect the safety of Rhode
Islanders. The ship would also need the
approval of the master mariner to unload
at the terminal.
The legislation would not affect exist-
ing requirements that all the tankers have
on board a Rhode Island-licensed marine
pilot whenever entering Rhode Island
waters. The pilot's purpose is to use his or
her knowledge of Rhode Island's waters to
ensure that the tanker avoids potential
obstacles to navigation.
A federal report issued in late 2004
indicated that, while the risk of an inci-
dent involving a tanker explosion is low, a
fire fed by large amounts of LNG could
produce enough heat to burn people and
structures a mile away.
20 • MarineNews • June, 2005
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