NJ Threatens to Sue Delaware over LNG project

The state plans to float between $50 million and $100 million in tax-exempt bonds to help ensure that the Crown Landing project proceeds.New Jersey is threatening legal action against Delaware, which has been using regulatory maneuvers to block BP from building its proposed Crown Landing LNG terminal on the Delaware River.
In addition, New Jersey plans to float between $50 million and $100 million in tax-exempt bonds to help the Crown Landing project proceed.
BP proposed the terminal on its riverfront property in Logan Township in 2003 and said it would build a 2,000-ft. pier extending into the river. But last February Delaware”s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control declined to grant BP a permit for the pier, saying it did not conform to state”s coastal zone management regulations. The Delaware Coastal Zone Board upheld the ruling on appeal.
Paul Fader, chief counsel to New Jersey Acting Governor Richard Codey, said the state wants the terminal to be built to provide low-cost natural gas to New Jersey residents and companies and to stimulate economic development.
State officials and BP have been discussing a two-pronged strategy of fighting Delaware in court and floating bonds, which would be used to build a pier that would be owned by the state and leased to BP for 20 years.
Over the course of the lease BP would repay New Jersey for construction and related costs and would contribute an estimated $50 million to a state economic development fund.
Fader said New Jersey plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over state border disputes, to rule that Delaware cannot stop New Jersey from building the pier. Delaware Attorney General Jane Brady said the state will fight New Jersey if it goes to the Supreme Court.