A proposal for a terminal in Providence, R.I., has officials there complaining it could wreck redevelopment plans for the city's waterfront. Delaware officials are trying to block a liquefied natural gas terminal planned for southern New Jersey.
Another proposal would spend up to $1 billion to put a terminal on Long Island Sound in New York waters, about nine miles from the New York shoreline and 11 miles from Connecticut's coast.
Opposition already has scuttled projects in Maine, California, and Alabama.
LNG is natural gas cooled until it turns to liquid so it can be shipped across the ocean in special tankers. As a liquid, LNG cannot explode and is not flammable. If released, it becomes a colorless, odorless vapor that can catch fire.
It will explode only if in a confined area.
Right now, there are four import terminals -- in Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, and Massachusetts.
About 50 more are in various stages of proposal or planning in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including five in Oregon.
Industry advocates say the safety risks are exaggerated, citing a 40-year history of more than 35,000 shipments of LNG worldwide without a significant release of the fuel or a fire.
The last liquefied natural gas explosion in the United States was in Cleveland when a poorly designed tank blew up in 1944, killing 128 people and leveling a square mile. A tank blast in Algeria last year killed 30 workers and injured dozens.
Industry advocates have argued that the Algerian accident, involving a liquid gas leak and explosion set off by a spark from a boiler, could not happen at US terminals because of different equipment and design.
In Oregon, the Port of Astoria has signed a five-year lease with California-based Calpine Corp., with options for two 30-year extensions if the project materializes. Designers say it could provide up to 500 construction jobs and 75 positions at the completed facility.
The project, which could be operational by 2011, has to be approved by various federal, state, and local agencies.
No formal application has been filed, said Tamara Young-Allen, spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C.
