Puget Sound Energy appeal matter

Working on behalf of client Puget Sound Energy, Armando Levy provided testimony to Washington state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) in a hearing related to the utility company’s proposed Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) marine terminal in Tacoma, Washington (PCHB No. 19-087c). Several parties had appealed the permit arguing that the accompanying supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) didn’t comply with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and violated Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) regulations. Dr. Levy, along with two other experts, addressed the issue of whether or not it was reasonable for the lifecycle analysis (LCA) performed for the SEIS to assume that marine fuel customers switching their ships – which would be using LNG from the proposed facility as transportation fuel – from diesel-like fuel to LNG would do so on a 1-to-1 basis. Dr. Levy rebutted the claim that the ship conversions would displace only half of the old diesel-like fuel and thus increase the projected greenhouse gas emissions. In the appeal, the PCHB agreed, allowing Puget Sound Energy to move forward with the project, concluding, “Accordingly, the Board gives more weight to Dr. Levy, Unnasch and Couch’s credible testimony supporting the reasonableness of the 1-for-1 displacement assumption in the LCA.”