The Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities held a celebration of the Taunton River at Heritage State Park on September 22, 2007, to bring attention to the River and to the issue of LNG. The event was held in support of the National Park Service’s recommendation that the Taunton River be designated as wild and scenic. U.S. Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry introduced legislation to support the federal designation earlier this year. A designation of wild and scenic would give the River ecological protection from Bridgewater to the River’s mouth at Mount Hope Bay in Fall River from the National Park Service and would make organizations working on behalf of river protection eligible for federal funding. The River is the longest New England coastal river without dams. The Coalition is fighting a proposal by Weaver's Cove and Hess to locate an LNG off-loading and storage facility on the Taunton River near Fall River's North End.  Click here and here for links to the Herald News articles about the event. For more information about the Coalition, contact the Coalition president, Joe Carvalho, at 598-646-3616.
 

(Top row) Ed Cadime grills some burgers while David Figueiredo serves up a hot dog to Sandy Greenhalgh. (Top row, center) Nes reporter Del Furtado interviews Joe Carvalho, president of the Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities. (Top row, right) Louis Medeiros looks over some of the material about the river on display. (Middle row, left) Mary St. Ours is greeted by Mayor Edward M. Lambert, Jr. as he points out her grandson's Mohegan haircut. (Middle row, center) Anna Allenao watches as her ten-year-old daughter Nyasia models her new balloon hat for Edmundo deSousa. (Middle row, right) Singer Tom Khoury plays one of his own numbers as singer Jeanne Padillo and saxophonist Scott Rawson listen. (Bottom row, left) Everett Casto of Green Futures speaks to Marian Lecompte and Al Lima, also of Green Futures. (Bottom row, center) Barbara DeMello talks to her fiance Albert Canuel with the U.S.S. Battleship Massachusetts behind them on the Taunton River.