My whole time living in that area, I’ve never seen anything like this. My mother would be rolling over in her grave if she new she sold me this.”

Katherine Hatzberger, Old Mill Lane

PORTSMOUTH — For a public hearing that was ultimately canceled, there sure was a lot of talk about the seasonal LNG facility on Old Mill Lane Monday night at Town Hall.

R.I. Energy (formerly National Grid) was on the Town Council’s agenda for a public hearing on its request for a sound variance to the town’s noise ordinance. The company is hoping to exceed the allowable noise levels — 55 decibels at nighttime and 65 decibels during the day — generated by the portable LNG equipment at 111 Old Mill Lane.

However, George Watson, an attorney representing R.I. Energy, requested a continuance of the hearing because the R.I. Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) has asked the company to submit plans for a reconfiguration of the site. That will require R.I. Energy to reevaluate the amount of noise the facility will generate, and therefore the hearing should be postponed, he said.

The council ended up voting unanimously to cancel the public hearing for now, with a new date still undetermined. However, several abutters who came out to the hearing were still allowed to voice their frustration with R.I. Energy and the Old Mill Lane facility, which is located within a residential neighborhood.

“We’ve been playing games with this group for three years now,” said Steve MacDonald of 124 Old Mill Lane, who lives directly across the street from the seasonal facility, which was set up after a severe gas outage on Aquidneck Island in January 2019 and operates during periods of peak loads in the winter months. 

MacDonald said police do what they can, but abutters can’t “call them in advance.” When the noise is at its worst during venting operations, police are often busy or arrive after the decibel levels have subsided, he said. 

The council should ask police to visit the area on a regular basis, “and every time they violate the noise ordinance, give them a ticket, because it’s happening,” MacDonald said, adding he has recent decibel readings to present at the future public hearing.

Watson told the council that R.I. Energy has purchased new equipment that should be quieter during venting.

Katherine Hatzberger, of 148 Old Mill Lane, invited council members to experience what she’s had to endure over the last few years on her property, which has been in her family since the late 1880s.

“Spend one night in my bed. You guys spend one night when this is happening,” she said. “My whole time living in that area, I’ve never seen anything like this. My mother would be rolling over in her grave if she new she sold me this.”

Like other abutters, Katzberger said an LNG facility simply has no place in a residential neighborhood. “It’s been farmland for years. My husband planted potatoes there. My grandfather grew corn there. We’ve had cows there. Why are you going to screw it up with this crap across the street?” she said.

Council member Keith Hamilton reiterated that complaint. “It shouldn’t be there; you should put in another pipeline,” he told Watson, referring to an additional gas transmission pipeline that he feels would be a sounder, longterm solution.

Safety concerns raised

Mike Richardson, of 162 Old Mill Lane, told the council he’s mostly concerned about safety, saying he has smelled gas near the facility and worries about a large-scale accident. “What happens when something goes?” he asked.

Richardson also complained that the facility is an eyesore — “It looks like a prison,” he said — and that R.I. Energy is not communicating with neighbors enough about the operation. “I don’t feel (they) are reaching out.”

Before voting to cancel the public hearing — both Watson and council members said abutters will receive notice when it’s rescheduled — Leonard Katzman, acting council chairman in the absence of Kevin Aguiar, summarized the general tone of residents at Town Hall.

“I think we’re hearing there’s a fair amount of frustration in the room. I hope the applicants hear that,” he said.

Initially, R.I. Energy said it planned to keep LNG at the seasonal facility for up to 10 more years. But in 2021, the utility announced it was seeking to use the Old Mill Lane facility as long as needed, and that it was the only viable option providing uninterrupted service of the natural gas distribution system on the island.