The parent company of Florida City Gas is floating the idea of building a liquefied natural gas plant on a Merritt Island site west of Port Canaveral.
Under one proposal, the plant would be built on undeveloped land that is owned by the port, not far from a residential neighborhood.
LNG is used as a fuel on many newer cruise ships based at Port Canaveral and elsewhere, and also can be used in the space launch industry. In the cruise industry, LNG is cleaner-burning that traditional marine fuels.
Florida House Majority Leader Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, said he was briefed on the LNG plant proposal by a lobbyist for Chesapeake Utilities Corp., parent company of Florida City Gas. Sirois says he told her he opposed the proposal, feeling the site was not appropriate because it is not far from residences on East Merritt Island and is just off the Canaveral Barge Canal.
Sirois said he also raised concerns about the proposal during a subsequent meeting he had with Port Canaveral CEO John Murray.
“I do not believe that is the right location for an LNG plant,” Sirois said, describing it as an “environmentally sensitive” area and too close to residential communities.
In a statement provided by Chesapeake to FLORIDA TODAY, the company said: “We are in the very early stages of considering the possible development of local infrastructure to help meet the growing demand for LNG in Florida.”
“As the state’s population and energy needs rise, reliable and flexible power sources are essential,” Chesapeake said. “With every energy-delivery solution, Chesapeake Utilities is committed to working with stakeholders, regulators, state and local elected officials, and the community at large to ensure an open and transparent process.”
Asked about Chesapeake’s proposal, Steve Linden, Port Canaveral’s director of communications and public affairs, said the port is “aware of their interest in the property, as well as other properties.”
But, as far as the port site is concerned, Chesapeake has not gone forward with a formal proposal to buy or lease the undeveloped, port-owned property at 1350 Sea Ray Drive. Any such proposal would have to be approved by the Canaveral Port Authority Board of Commissioners.
Port commissioners concerned about proposal
Although the proposal has not come up at a public meeting of the Canaveral Port Authority, port commissioners say they are aware of it — and have qualms about it.
Port Commissioner Micah Loyd said he has had informal private discussions about the Chesapeake proposal with company representatives, as well as with port officials.
Noting the perception among some about potential dangers of LNG, Loyd said: “I don’t think the public is going to be very happy with it,” if the plant is built at that site.
Port Commissioner Fritz VanVolkenburgh, who is secretary/treasurer of the five-member board, also has his concerns about the proposal — and already has developed a list of issues he would seek answers on before considering approving any such proposal. Among them are discussions on such things as the safety of LNG; any potential water, air and noise pollution from the plant’s operation; impacts of the LNG operation on other marine traffic along the Banana River, the Barge Canal and the Canaveral Lock; and impacts of the new plant on the views of nearby residents from their homes.
“I have big concerns, because the proposed site is pretty close to where residents live,” VanVolkenburgh said.
VanVolkenburgh said he would want the proposal “fully aired out” before the Port Authority has any vote on such a proposal, including public hearings.
In discussing the Chesapeake Utilities proposal, VanVolkenburgh said: “It’s out there, but it’s still vague.”
Space-industry connection
In addition to its use to fuel cruise and cargo ships, LNG can be used in the space launch industry centered at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
VanVolkenburgh said that may be a main impetus for the proposal.
VanVolkenburgh said he worries that there may be state pressure applied on Port Canaveral to accommodate Chesapeake, so the project could benefit the space industry — an important industry for the state and local economies.
VanVolkenburgh noted that, in August 2024, two top state officials — Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly and Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue — pressured the port to drop plans to build a cruise terminal on the site of North Cargo Berth 8.
In their letter to port commissioners, the state officials said current and future state funding for port projects would be in jeopardy if the port didn’t switch course on building a cruise terminal at that site. Port commissioners agreed to drop that cruise terminal plan several weeks later.
In that letter, the importance of the space industry and the importance of LNG for that industry were prominently mentioned.
Kelly and Perdue said in their letter that, with the port’s proposal to build a cruise terminal on the site of North Cargo Berth 8, the plan reneges on the port’s “commitment to expanded liquified natural gas access by reallocating some of NCB 8’s displaced cargo operations onto lands previously designated for a LNG facility.”
Although port commissioners contend that there was no such formal commitment in place, the letter demonstrates that top state officials are willing to make major efforts to help the space industry get access to LNG.
What the documents propose
Documents filed with the St. Johns River Water Management District by an engineering and consulting company indicate that the “Canaveral LNG Plant” project at the Sea Ray Drive site potentially could include “construction of marine facilities (excavation, dredging, new bulkhead, mooring area, boat basin, turning basin) to support an onshore liquefied natural gas storage and regasification plant. The plant will serve to transport natural gas by marine vessels and trucks.”
LNG is gaining increased use in the cruise industry.
At Port Canaveral, ships take on the LNG fuel via a barge. Four Port Canaveral-based cruise ships use LNG — Carnival’s Mardi Gras, Disney’s Treasure and Wish, and Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas. In August, a fifth LNG-powered ship will enter Port Canaveral’s lineup of home-ported ships — Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas. In 2027, two additional LNG-powered ships will be based at Port Canaveral — the Carnival Festivale and the MSC World Atlantic.
The Mardi Gras was the first cruise ship powered by cleaner-burning liquefied natural gas to sail from a North American port when it debuted at Port Canaveral in 2021, when cruise sailings resumed following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some cargo vessels also use LNG. In July 2023, the Clean Canaveral LNG bunker barge completed its first barge-to-ship bunkering of a cargo vessel at Port Canaveral’s South Cargo Berth 4. It handled the LNG refueling of the tanker Damia Desgagnés on the ship’s inaugural call to Port Canaveral.
In announcing that milestone, Murray, the port’s CEO, said: “Our port has been at the forefront of LNG fueling for cruise vessels for several years. LNG is a proven clean energy fuel option, and we’re proud to support its use in the maritime industry.”
The closest plant producing LNG for cruise ships is in Jacksonville. That’s also the closest source of LNG for cruise ships based at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades or PortMiami. Some LNG-powered ships based at Florida ports also get their LNG barged in from facilities in Georgia.
But if an LNG-producing plant opened near Port Canaveral, it would provide a closer source of the fuel for ships based at Port Canaveral or the South Florida ports.
The proposed Port Canaveral-owned site for the LNG plant is east of a boat-manufacturing plant and west of an off-site “park-and-cruise” parking lot. It is across Sea Ray Drive from a residential neighborhood and Brevard County’s Kelly Park.
The port-owned land on Sea Ray Drive is listed by the Brevard County Property Appraiser’s Office as 124.6 acres, with a market value of $2.88 million.
Loyd said Chesapeake also may be looking into acquiring an idled former boat-making facility nearby for its project.
Loyd and Sirois say they would like Chesapeake to instead consider the site of a former Orlando Utilities Commission natural-gas plant off U.S. 1, just south of Titusville, for its proposed LNG venture.
But Loyd noted that it is less efficient to ship LNG by truck as it is by barge, because a barge can hold a much-greater volume than a truck can.
Environmentalists want LNG phased out
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased LNG demand, industry officials say. But some environmental groups want LNG phased out with other fossil fuels.
“Under the guise of ‘energy security,’ the United States worked closely with European allies to supply LNG amid sanctions on Russian gas,” Jamie Lee, international climate specialist for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote in a Dec. 4, 2023, blog post. “Yet continued fossil-fuel dependency makes us energy-insecure, especially when soaring prices of fossil gas are passed on to households.”
LNG terminals also can release volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter and other pollutants “that can contribute to increased incidences of respiratory disease, heart disease and cancer,” Lee wrote.
Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
Jim Waymer covers the environment. Reach him at 321-261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Liquefied natural gas plant proposed for site off Barge Canal on Merritt Island
Reporting by Dave Berman and Jim Waymer, Florida Today / Florida Today
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