City Threatens Suit on Sea-3 Project

The Portsmouth City Council discussed taking legal action against Newington regarding the proposed expansion of the Sea-3 terminal, but decided to wait until the neighboring community officially votes on it.

The Sea-3 proposal before the Newington Planning Board would reconfigure its terminal to allow for rail shipment of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

"We should make it clear that e will do whatever it is we need to do," Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine said at Monday night's meeting.

Splaine offered a motion to proceed along those legal lines, but council support was evidently not there.

At least, not yet. Councilors opposing the motion said it was premature to pursue action when the Newington Planning Board had yet to officially vote on the Sea-3 plan.

"Are we really going to vote to sue a town before they even have taken a vote?" asked Councilor Bradley Lown. "I think that would be really irresponsible of this council."

Splaine made his intentions clear in correspondence to the City Council May 5, that Portsmouth should take every step to protect its interests and its neighborhoods.

"If they do vote in favor of approval, I think we should consider any legal action that is available to us to stop the expansion," Splaine wrote in the letter.