Bill Text: GA SR311 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; urged to carefully consider the safety aspects; El Paso Corporation to transport liquefied natural gas
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-03 - Senate Read and Referred [SR311 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2011-SR311-Introduced.html
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Senate
Resolution 311
By:
Senators Jackson of the 2nd, Henson of the 41st, Stoner of the 6th, Orrock of
the 36th, Jones of the 10th and others
A
RESOLUTION
Urging
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to carefully consider the safety
aspects of allowing El Paso Corporation to transport liquefied natural gas
through Georgia; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
El Paso Corporation, through its subsidiary Southern Liquefied Natural Gas
(SNLG), is petitioning the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to permit
the reactivation and expansion of truck loading facilities at its liquefied
natural gas storage facility at Elba Island, Georgia; and
WHEREAS,
El Paso's petition includes plans to truck LNG through highly populated urban
areas using a new company created by El Paso and Atlanta Gas Light Corporation;
and
WHEREAS,
there has been no trucking of LNG through Savannah since the Elba Island
facility opened in 1978; El Paso had, in fact, pledged to city officials that no
trucking would take place; and
WHEREAS,
El Paso has refused the city's requests for its risk analyses and emergency
response plan, claiming that the company is not obligated to provide them;
and
WHEREAS,
the El Paso petition is a request to begin a new operation – a wholly new
business – rather than simply to modify activities that were previously
assessed by regulators and approved; and
WHEREAS,
in order to do this, El Paso is exploiting an exception to the regulations that
prohibit shipment of hazardous goods through urban areas; and
WHEREAS,
the El Paso petition (FERC Docket CP10-477) will allow the trucking of as many
as 58 LNG tanks per day, each carrying 10,000 gallons of LNG or more, on an 8.5
mile-long series of urban streets;
and
WHEREAS, the proposed route on DeRenne Avenue is immediately adjacent to the area's two major hospitals, including the only Level I trauma center in Southeast Georgia, nursing homes, schools, a college campus, shopping centers, Hunter Army Airfield, and hundreds of nearby homes and offices; and
WHEREAS, the proposed route on DeRenne Avenue is immediately adjacent to the area's two major hospitals, including the only Level I trauma center in Southeast Georgia, nursing homes, schools, a college campus, shopping centers, Hunter Army Airfield, and hundreds of nearby homes and offices; and
WHEREAS,
if denied access to DeRenne, El Paso has advised it will seek to truck LNG via
Bay Street, which hosts a dozen hotels housing some of Savannah's 7 million
tourists per year; and
WHEREAS,
accidents or terrorist attacks could produce catastrophic consequences on either
proposed route; and
WHEREAS,
El Paso's proposal to place as many as 58 LNG tankers per day on these routes
will offer attackers the opportunity to create mass casualties and to damage
sites of high political and symbolic value.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission is urged to call for and see to the implementation of an
Environmental Impact Statement that will identify and quantify El Paso
Corporations's ability to cope with possible accidents or terrorist attacks
before granting El Paso the right to transport LNG through urban
areas.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed
to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission and the mayor and city council of Savannah.
