In a country that is slow to embrace alternative sources of energy because it”™s easier to just pay our gas and electric bills and grumble about how they keep rising, a dilemma of sorts has arisen ”“ and in, of all places, the middle of the Long Island Sound.
A floating liquefied natural gas terminal that would eat up a relatively small piece of watery real estate and would be hardly visible from either the Connecticut or Long Island shores, promises some relief from those rising energy bills we keep paying.
New York and Connecticut could see a 17 percent reduction in energy bills, or about $300 per household on median, according to estimates by Broadwater, a Texas-based venture between Shell Oil Co. and TransCanada Corp. And yes, we know all about estimates and how often they fall short, especially when selling people on a cost-saving idea.
Here”™s the rub. Since we Americans aren”™t moving quickly to use alternative fuel sources, what do we do? Allow this floating terminal to drop anchor and accept the carrot dangled in front of us or do we say the Sound is too near and dear to us to allow something that we normally associate with being off the coast of Louisiana or Texas. Of course, we”™re talking about oil rigs, of which this isn”™t. But the picture is the same in our minds.
Environmentalists say the pristine nature of the Sound would be sullied. It”™s a nice place to sail on and fish in and, when the sewage isn”™t adding bacteria to the water, take a dip in. But, funny thing about environmentalists, they often oppose things without looking at the bigger picture and in this case it would be coming up with an alternative to rising fuel costs.
OK, don”™t set up a terminal in the Sound. Well, what if an alternative energy company suggested setting up an array of solar panels interspersed with steel windmills in the same spot proposed for the terminal? Would environmentalists still be opposed, or would they say OK? That view of the horizon would certainly be changed.
We have no answers to this quandary. But we do believe an exchange of ideas should begin on cutting energy costs in our region and the means to achieve that goal.
Alternative energy is the only way to cut our ties to foreign fuels, as we have all heard since the Reagan administration.
Isn”™t it time to get off the dime and do something and stop grumbling?
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