June 4: SUEZ Shouldn't Have Been Surprised

By Sylvia Gurinsky

From last Friday's Miami Herald article by Roberto Santiago about a proposal by SUEZ Energy North America to put together a gas pipeline project off the Broward County coast:

"Dan McGinnis, vice president and project manager, said safety and security fears are unwarranted.
He said his company will address specifics regarding worse-case scenarios in scheduled public hearings next month. 'The concerns about safety issues surprised us,' said McGinnis, who said SUEZ Energy will have two security vessels circling a quarter-mile away from any tanker moored in the Atlantic. The project has been in the works over five years, he said."

Concerns surprised them? Oh, come on.

They were surprised after not getting a natural gas port built on Grand Bahama Island? Surprised to the point that, as blogs on both the Sun-Sentinel and Palm Beach Post's Web sites indicate, they've donated campaign money to U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler and Ron Klein, both Boca Raton Democrats?

Would they be surprised to know that FPL, which is a lot closer to home than the Houston-based SUEZ, already had this fight and decided not to build a pipeline?

Local residents and government leaders are right to be concerned about this project and its possible effects.

SUEZ leaders should come prepared to those public hearings. See, South Floridians are particular about protecting the environment. And that should come as no surprise.