Americas News
Think Tank Raises Concerns Over Proposed LNG Bunkering Facility
Tarika Powell and Eric de Place, writing for think tank Sightline Institute (Sightline) Tuesday questioned the safety of a proposed U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering facility in Tacoma.
The plant is largely being developed in order to supply LNG bunkers to Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) cargo ships, as well as other vessels.
As reported previously in these pages, TOTE, who operate a service between Tacoma, Washington and Alaska, is converting its vessels to use LNG bunkers in response to the introduction of Emissions Control Area (ECA) regulations in North America.
"PSE operates an LNG storage facility in nearby Gig Harbor, Washington, but the utility is inexperienced in LNG production, and it has never operated a facility posing nearly as many hazards as would be present at Tacoma LNG," says Powell and de Place.
They also note LNG bunkering is a relatively new practice about which "there are several gaps in regulations," and indeed the Harvey Gulf LNG facility in Port Fourchon, Louisiana is currently the only such facility in the U.S., which they argue is also much less complex in comparison to the proposed Tacoma project.
Best Practices and Lack of Regulation
Powell and de Place say that, because regulations to LNG bunkering are still under development, the observation of voluntary best practices issued by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) are all that operators have to guide the development and operation of LNG bunkering infrastructure.
While the USCG has issued policy letters that may become law in the future, there is said to be a lack of clarity of how such laws would be applied to operations established before regulation is implemented.
Even if best practices outlined by the USCG are followed, Powell and de Place say that gas releases may still result from normal LNG bunkering operations, a situation they see as representing a fire hazard, and of particular concern given the facility's location on a "busy" industrial peninsula.
Also under fire from the think tank was the approval process, which it says was "riddled with conflict" as local authorities usually stand to gain financially from such a project.
In this case, it says the lease agreement for the Tacoma plant will garner the Port of Tacoma Commission as much as $250,000 per month in rental income.
"After a pushback in the facility's targeted operations date from 2018 to 2019, regulators and community members have more time than they expected. It's a valuable opportunity to consider each element of PSE's project carefully and on its own merits, rather than fast-tracking a three-headed bunkering, trucking, and peak-shaving operation that could endanger the City of Destiny," concludes Powell and de Place.
In October, The U.S. Marine Administration (MARAD) announced that it has signed a $900,000 cooperative agreement with TOTE to investigate the benefits of retrofitting existing vessels with LNG propulsion systems.
