Proposal to expand propane shipping terminal in Providence draws opposition

PROVIDENCE — A propane shipping terminal in the Port of Providence is seeking to fast-track a plan to expand into rail deliveries, saying that the project doesn't rise to the definition under state law of an "alteration" to the existing operation that would trigger a full application to energy regulators.

But Attorney General Peter F. Neronha argues that a full review by the state Energy Facility Siting Board of Sea 3 Providence's proposal is not only required by law but is necessary to vet a $20-million expansion that could increase carbon emissions in city neighborhoods already overburdened by pollution from industrial operations in and around ProvPort.

"This appears to be inconsistent with Rhode Island's long-term climate change goals," Neronha's office said in a statement. "Further, because the proposal raises public safety concerns, it must be fully vetted by the EFSB before it is approved."

The Attorney General's office is urging stakeholders to submit comments to the siting board on Sea 3 Providence's petition for a declaratory order before a deadline at 4 p.m. May 7.

Ward 10 City Councilman Pedro Espinal has already said he is "fully opposed" to the propane proposal.

"The industrial operations already taking place in this neighborhood have repeatedly created major threats to public health, safety and the local environment," Espinal, president pro tempore of the City Council, said in a statement. "Any economic gains presented by Sea 3's expansion proposal is far outweighed by the risks of further polluting the Port of Providence and South Side neighborhoods."

The Washington Park Neighborhood Association and the People's Port Authority, a South Providence environmental group, have also come out against the project, drawing comparisons to a National Grid liquefied natural gas facility that was fiercely opposed by community members but ultimately won approval in 2018.

While the propane terminal expansion would be much smaller, it shares a key similarity. Just as National Grid wanted to tap into a pipeline to find a more secure supply of natural gas, Sea 3 Providence is trying to get deliveries by rail to shore up its propane supply options.

Nicholas Hemond, a lawyer for Sea 3 Providence, says the company's actions have been mischaracterized and that his client is simply following a legal mechanism allowed for existing energy facilities that aren't making major changes to their operations.

Propane, also known as liquefied petroleum gas, is a fossil fuel created as a byproduct when crude oil and natural gas are refined. Used for cooking, heating and as a transportation fuel, it is cleaner-burning than gasoline, diesel or heating oil but produces more carbon emissions than natural gas.

The marine propane terminal has been in operation at Fields Point almost continuously since 1975, receiving deliveries of the flammable gas from tanker ships, cooling it, and then storing it in liquid form in a 19-million-gallon tank near the Providence River. After the propane is warmed and converted back into a gas, tractor trailers fill up from the storage tank and transport the fuel around the region. The propane terminal is the second largest in New England.

After Teppco Partners ceased operations in 2015, Sea 3 Providence took over the lease, invested more than $10 million in modernizing the facility, and started accepting deliveries and distributing gas again in 2019. It is currently licensed to send out up to 244 truck deliveries of gas a day, but says it doesn't come close to that limit. Hemond put the number closer to 10.

The company wants to connect to a nearby rail spur and use a vacant property next to its operation on Seaview Drive to build six horizontal "bullet" tanks to store more fuel. With a combined capacity of 450,000 gallons, the new tanks would increase the total storage capacity of the facility by less than 3%.

"This operational enhancement will allow Sea 3 Providence to diversify its LPG supply options to meet a consistent projected increase of demand over the coming decade," the company says in its filing with the energy siting board.

Last year, three shipments of LPG were made to its terminal in Providence, totaling 23 million gallons of the fuel.

While about 35 million gallons of propane are sold to consumers in Rhode Island every year, Sea 3 Providence expects the number to grow to nearly 60 million gallons this year as more people switch from heating oil. Demand in Southern New England could double, to 900 million gallons, the company says, and it wants to meet a large chunk of that need.

Sea 3 Providence is a subsidiary of Texas-based Blackline Midstream as part of a joint venture with Sixth Street Partners, a global investment firm with more than $50 billion in assets.

The company argues that the expansion is not a "material alteration" to its existing operation, that it is merely an "ancillary modification" that will "not have a significant impact on the environment or the public's health, safety or welfare."

The new connection would allow the terminal to receive a daily delivery of propane by rail to meet peak demand, the company says. It also argues that the expansion could stabilize prices, allow for more predictable delivery and help a greater number of homeowners convert to propane. The expansion would increase truck traffic, but the company says it would not require raising the daily cap allowed under its permit.

If the declaratory order is granted, the project would be able to go ahead without further review from the board, but it would still need approvals from the state fire marshal, the Department of Environmental Management, the Coastal Resources Management Council and the City of Providence.

Since Neronha was elected, the attorney general's office has stepped up its work on environmental issues. His office has intervened in a long-running dispute over a marina expansion on Block Island and called for a stricter review of a medical waste processing plant in West Warwick.

In assuaging Gov. Daniel McKee's concerns about enforcement, Neronha also played a key role in the recent passage of landmark climate legislation that sets mandatory greenhouse gas reductions in Rhode Island. His office invoked climate policy in connection to the propane proposal.

"... the potential growth in operations necessarily encourages and supports more use of fossil fuels," the attorney general's office said.

Sea 3 Providence says it is simply trying to meet a rising demand to provide "a clean fuel source to Rhode Islanders and New Englanders alike."

But others see it differently. Monica Huertas, executive director of the People's Port Authority, said the proposal would double-down on fossil fuel infrastructure when state policy calls for more investment in renewables.

"If we really want to get away from fossil fuels then we have to stop new infrastructure from being built and make the bad polluters leave," she said.

Linda Perri, president of the Washington Park Neighborhood Association, pointed to the approval of the liquefied natural gas facility in the port and a proposal for a new garbage transfer station, which was eventually defeated, as evidence that South Providence is targeted more than other places for polluting activities.

"We live in a precarious place," she said. "We're constantly getting bombarded with horrible stuff."

A new study by researchers that looked at air pollution nationwide found that communities of color disproportionately suffer exposure from nearly all sources.

State Sen. Tiara Mack sees the propane terminal proposal as an environmental justice issue.

"What Sea 3 is doing — expanding fossil fuel infrastructure in a community with so many people of color who are already afflicted with high levels of pollution and rates of asthma — is racist," the Providence Democrat tweeted. "Plain and simple."