City bolsters its LNG arsenal

Daniel Fowler, Herald News Staff Reporter 04/13/2005

FALL RIVER -- Hess LNG has long had the assistance of a Washington, D.C.-based law firm in its battle to build a liquefied natural gas facility in the city.

Now, Fall River has its own Washington, D.C. attorneys to help with the opposition.

Edward Berlin, Lester S. Hyman and Robert Taylor, all previously of the Washington, D.C.-based Swidler and Berlin law firm, have a range of experience in law, government and politics and will ostensibly serve as the city’s answer to Baker & Botts, the law firm representing Hess LNG.

"If Hess and Baker & Botts did not take our passion and determination seriously enough in the past, then I hope to send a strong message to them because I’m sure they will recognize the names of the attorneys that Fall River has brought on board," Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. said.

Lambert said the city hired the lawyers -- who will focus strictly on the Hess LNG situation for the foreseeable future -- Tuesday.

"This is obviously a very important development," Lambert said. "Hopefully, it sends the message that we are not going away."

So far, City Corporation Counsel Thomas McGuire has spearheaded Fall River’s legal strategy to stop Hess LNG, and Lambert said McGuire will continue to play a key role.

Lambert said the high-profile attorneys, whom the city will pay $200 an hour, will "be on the ground in Washington, D.C. for us" and will "provide some very important tools for the city to use in its fight."

Lambert said funding for the lawyers, at least initially, will come from a Bristol County Homeland Security grant. The grant is for about $400,000 over the next two years, Lambert said.

"I believe that there is probably no more important homeland security issue," Lambert said. "We are prepared to spend money to hire the best, and it’s my belief that these guys are the best."

Should funds from the Homeland Security grant run out, Lambert said the city "will find other sources" to pay the attorneys and expert witnesses that might be needed in future legal proceedings.

"I’m more than willing to spend what it takes in this fight," Lambert said. "I don’t feel there is any amount of money you shouldn’t spend if it can help beat back this proposal."

Lambert said he will ask other communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island about joining the city in its fight against Hess.

"It would be helpful if they joined so we could share some costs," Lambert said.

Among other things, Lambert said he expects the attorneys to work with Fall River on getting an adjudicatory hearing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Hess LNG’s proposal. FERC is ultimately responsible for deciding whether to approve the Hess LNG project.

The city filed a motion for the hearing with FERC back in September, but has yet to receive a decision.

Though he declined to get into specifics, Berlin said he and his colleagues will make a filing with FERC in the next two weeks.

"I don’t feel comfortable discussing it ... publicly because of attorney-client privilege," said Berlin, who has previously argued energy cases before FERC.

"We are going to be striving to force the development of a decision-making procedure that is in conformity with the post-9/11 world in which we live and that will allow the full and fair comparison of all available means of satisfying Rhode Island’s and Massachusetts’ increased need of natural gas."

Berlin said he and his colleagues hope to "bring to bear ... a unifying strategy."

"I, quite frankly, as an old public interest lawyer, find the whole decision-making process that would allow something like (an LNG facility being sited in Fall River) to happen so offensive to my sense of justice, to my sense of where the public interest lies that I just welcome the opportunity to be of whatever service I can to Mayor Lambert and the people of Fall River as we try to stop this train wreck from happening," Berlin said.

Calling himself an "eternal optimist," Berlin said he is hopeful that he and his colleagues can get FERC to see that there is a flaw in the LNG siting process.

"I don’t want to by any means minimize the difficulties that we have to overcome, but having said that, it would be my hope that we can get FERC to step back and take a fresh look," Berlin said.

"And when it does take that fresh look and examines what we will be able to put together ... it will reach the judgment that I have certainly reached: that the process it has in place now will not pass judicial review."

E-mail Daniel Fowler at dfowler@heraldnews.com.

The Herald News 2005