Controversial LNG facility in Portsmouth wins 5-year approval. Here are the conditions.

A liquefied natural gas facility that opened five years ago in a residential area of Portsmouth as a temporary backup to Aquidneck Island’s gas delivery system will remain in place for at least the next five years.

State regulators on Thursday approved Rhode Island Energy’s application to extend the life of the LNG storage and vaporization facility on Old Mill Lane that’s been the focus of complaints from neighbors about noise, truck traffic and light pollution and from environmental groups about climate impacts.

In doing so, the members of the Energy Facility Siting Board agreed with Rhode Island Energy that there is still a need for the controversial take station, but they didn’t buy the utility company’s entire argument about the vulnerability of the island’s gas system, which sits at an endpoint of the region’s network of supply pipelines.

As part of their decision, Board members are also requiring the utility to take steps to reduce natural gas demand on the island, which could even include a moratorium that they plan to consider at a later date on new hookups to the local system .

More: Confused by your Rhode Island electric bill? Here's a breakdown of all the charges.

Approving the LNG facility without tamping down usage would have made no sense, said Board Chairman Ronald Gerwatowski.

“That would be like pumping water out of a swimming pool and leaving the hose turned on to put water back in at the same time,” he said.

Regulators agree there is capacity shortfall but don't take up vulnerability issue

Rhode Island Energy had said the facility is needed for two reasons.

First, as a solution to constraints on natural gas supplies to the island – in other words, to pump gas into the local distribution system on the coldest days of winter when heating demand is at its highest.

And second, as an insurance policy that can kick in if there are ever problems with the single transmission line that delivers gas under the Sakonnet River from Massachusetts.

Gerwatowski, who heads up the three-person siting board, said the evidence that the island is facing constraints on gas capacity, at least in the short term, was “uncontroverted.”

All parties in the docket agreed, he said, except for the Town of Portsmouth, which didn’t offer a contradictory position.

The vulnerability issue is less certain, he said.

While the island has experienced a natural gas outage before – in 2019, when thousands lost heat during a frigid winter week, an incident that drove the siting Board to approve the first temporary waiver for the LNG facility – investigators found that the system failure was due to an extraordinary combination of circumstances that included a malfunctioning valve on a pipeline in Massachusetts and the failure of a liquefied natural gas plant in Providence to respond to a systemwide drop in pressure.

Because the siting board isn’t required by law to demonstrate more than one need in the approval of an application, its members chose not to address the question of system vulnerability.

Possible moratorium on new gas hookups is next on the agenda for siting board

Even on the issue of a capacity shortfall, Board members acknowledged that conditions could – indeed, should – change.

“I think in fact there should be efforts to shrink that gap,” Gerwatowski said. “There is a reliability risk on the island, because there is a capacity gap.”

Closing the gap would require new investments in energy efficiency, including upgrades to building insulation and conversions to heat pumps, and in demand response, which incentivizes big commercial energy customers to curtail usage at certain times. Rhode Island Energy has estimated that those investments could cost upwards of $100 million.

The siting board stipulated that Rhode Island Energy create a special efficiency/demand response program for Aquidneck Island that must be presented by June 1, 2025 to the state Public Utilities Commission for approval.

Among the other stipulations approved by the Board, the utility must also present regular construction updates before the $15-million facility is set to be brought online for the 2025/26 winter, and it must conduct a new noise analysis once it goes into operation. The company must file an application to renew the license 18 months before the current one expires. Board members said there's no guarantee that a renewal, if granted, would be for as long.

As for the possible moratorium on new gas connections, the board is keeping the current docket open and will schedule another round of hearings on that issue alone.

The Board’s decision – with the conditions attached to it – was applauded by the Conservation Law Foundation, which has advocated for a ban on new gas hookups on the island.

“The sooner we upgrade to clean energy sources and eliminate the need for LNG facilities like this, the better equipped we will be to protect our environment and the Rhode Island we know and love for future generations,” staff attorney James Crowley said in a statement.

Reducing gas demand on Aquidneck Island is consistent with state climate policy

Reducing gas demand on Aquidneck Island falls in line with statewide climate policy.

The mandates of the Act on Climate, state law passed three years ago that requires Rhode Island reach net-zero emissions by 2050, can’t be met without converting heating systems to cleaner alternatives.

While some expert witnesses argued during the proceedings that the LNG facility violates the act, Board members disagreed. Gerwatowski said the plant would be supplying only gas that’s already needed on the island, not creating new demand and new emissions.

Still, in light of the climate law, he and other members expressed their preference that the facility’s use be kept to a minimum.

“From an Act on Climate context, we hope it never runs,” said Terry Gray, the director of the state Department of Environmental Management who also sits on the Board.

Gerwatowski said it would take time for heating systems on the island to evolve and urged patience.

But Meredith Brady, associate director of the state Division of Planning and a member of the Board, said that deadlines under the climate law were fast approaching.

“Our time is getting shorter and shorter to meet the goals of the Act on Climate,” she said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Controversial LNG facility in Portsmouth wins 5-year approval. Here are the conditions.