Expansion began last month at the massive LNG facility on Elba Island even though a request for a rehearing of the project’s approval is still pending before federal regulators.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan owns the LNG import facility on the Savannah River where site work began Nov. 1 with the ultimate goal of adding export capability. The $2.3 billion project includes the installation of 10 modular units that will convert gaseous methane to a liquid, reducing its volume 600-fold and making it suitable for export in specially designed tanker ships.

A steady stream of 325 dump trucks a day six days a week now ferries fill and gravel to the site. That rate of nearly 8,000 trucks a month is expected to continue through April.

“The first stage is expected to last about six months, and we are now one month into the work of delivering fill material to Elba Island,” Kinder Morgan spokesman Richard Wheatley wrote in an email. “Following completion of this initial stage, we estimate truck traffic volume will decline to a level of about 1,500 trucks per month versus the current level. Trucks operate during the daylight hours, six days a week, Monday-Saturday.”

Causton Bluff resident Bill Thomas’ house backs up to Elba, giving him a clear view of the construction traffic on Elba Island Road.

“Sometimes there’s as many as four trucks bumper to bumper,” he said.

The dump trucks are bringing in 375,000 cubic yards of fill and gravel from local sources, including Martin Marietta and Lanyard Development. They are taking two routes: Interstate 16, Lynes Parkway, DeRenne Avenue, Truman Parkway to the island; and Interstate 95, Abercorn Street, Truman to Islands Expressway.

The routes are planned to avoid downtown Savannah and peak traffic hours, Wheatley said.

Regulatory limbo

As the trucks roll in, opponents of the expansion find themselves in a regulatory limbo. In early August federal regulators postponed a decision on their request to take a more in-depth look at the environmental consequences of the project. The local chapter of the Sierra Club and others hold that the health, safety and property risks posed by the addition of liquefaction to the 86-billion gallon storage facility were not adequately addressed in the environmental assessment.

That postponement from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission comes with no deadline for making that decision, and it does not prevent Kinder Morgan from moving forward. It does, however, prevent the project’s opponents from bringing legal action. Regulations require a decision on a rehearing before they can file a lawsuit.

It’s a catch-22, said Stacey Kronquest, an executive committee member of the Coastal Group Sierra Club.

“The tolling order means they can indefinitely consider the request while the project is being built, she said. “This isn’t due process; we can’t do anything here.”

She’d prefer an outright denial of the rehearing request.

“A denial is fine, so we can proceed with the administrative process of appealing,” Kronquest said. “The law states we have to have an answer to the rehearing request before can move on.”

Kronquest along with three other local residents wrote to their Congressional representatives for assistance in bringing this conundrum to FERC’s attention. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican, responded by restating the problem.

“An official of FERC tells my staff the order you are referring to does not mean a rehearing was granted. It simply extends the time for FERC to consider their request. … In addition, this order does not stay action on the project. This means that other orders authorizing work can be granted and acted upon.”

Kronquest replied, telling Carter he misunderstood.

“Our request to you was not to explain this to us, but rather, as our representative in Congress, to urge the Commission to fulfill its due process obligations to your constituents by issuing a timely final order on our rehearing requests.”

She hasn’t heard back.

Both U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and U.S. Sen. David Perdue did understand the request, however. The senators’ offices forwarded the concerns to FERC, requesting a review of the information.

Timeline

Federal regulators gave Elba a general go-ahead in June and then in October gave specific approval to begin site work including preparation of the upland area, relocation of a containment area to hold dredge materials and the testing of piles.

On Friday a permitted, controlled burn of debris from Hurricane Matthew sent black smoke into the air over the site. Contractor Tri-County Construction Co. has already removed half of the debris. Georgia Forestry Commission and Chatham County supplied burn permits for an 8-acre area. Tri-County expects to complete the burning by Dec. 13, said Environmental Protection Division spokesman Kevin Chambers.

Concern about the number of trucks traveling in and out of the site during construction led to a plan by Kinder Morgan to bring in aggregate fill by barge. That’s not happening. The company abandoned that plan, instead opting to route the truck traffic so as to avoid Bay Street. Pilings are being delivered by barge but they represent a smaller portion of the deliveries.

The initial phase of work at Elba also includes the demolition of five buildings on site, Wheatley said.

The project overall is expected to be completed in early 2019, with initial liquefaction units scheduled to go into service in mid-2018. The finished expansion will include 10 “moveable modular liquefaction units” with a total liquefaction capacity of 350,000 million cubic feet per day, ancillary equipment to support the liquefaction process plus pumps and compression for delivery into the tanks and loading of ships.

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