FERC’s approval was widely anticipated. The commission’s staff issued its final environmental impact statement in January, which concluded the LNG terminal would not have significant environmental impacts.

At the commission’s regular monthly meeting this morning, webcast live from Washington, D.C., FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher said the project meets all federal environmental and safety standards.

“This is another important milestone for the project,” Broadwater senior vice president John Hritcko, Jr. said in a telephone interview this afternoon. “It’s important to note this is a decision by a bipartisan commission whose members were approved by our local senators in New York and Connecticut and their decision was unanimous, based upon the law, the facts and science,” he said.

While the approvals were a key milestone for Broadwater, the FERC process is not over, Mr. Hritcko pointed out. The company also needs to obtain air and water quality permits and a coastal zone consistency ruling from New York State, he said.

Broadwater Energy, a joint venture of Shell Oil and TransCanada Pipelines, plans to moor a 1,200-foot-long floating natural gas terminal in the Sound nine miles off the coast of Wading River. The plan, first announced in 2005, immediately drew criticism from community and environmental groups. Several Suffolk County towns and the county itself have brought legal actions challenging the plan.

A leading Broadwater opponent, Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment in Farmingdale called FERC’s approval “predictable.”  In a press release issued immediately after the commission vote, Ms. Esposito said FERC’s “decision means nothing without proper permits from New York State...We need Governor [David] Paterson to stand up for the public, the protection of our Long Island Sound, and true democracy by saying no to Broadwater.”

In addition to the FERC approvals, Broadwater must procure air and water quality permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. It must also obtain a favorable consistency ruling from the state Department of State, which is charged with determining whether the proposed use of coastal waters is consistent with the state’s waterfront management plan. It must also obtain the state’s permission to use submerged lands.

The DEC recently issued its second “notice of incomplete application” to Broadwater, seeking additional information before it will issue or deny Broadwater’s air and water permits. Broadwater senior vice president John Hritcko Jr. said the energy company was working to provide the state agency with all requested.

The DOS consistency decision was due, by law, within six months of the filing of Broadwater’s draft environmental impact statement, but Broadwater and the DOS entered into a series of extension agreements giving the state more time to decide, so that the state could first review the final environmental impact statement. Broadwater and the DOS signed another extension agreement in February, giving the state until April 11 to issue the consistency ruling.

While the consistency ruling is within the jurisdiction of the state secretary of state, the governor is thought to have the final decision in the matter, since the secretary of state is his appointee. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer caused Broadwater opponents concern when it came to light that he had met privately with the CEOs of Shell and TransCanada shortly before the most recent extension agreement was signed. Shortly thereafter, Broadwater began an advertising campaign promoting its plan, which critics argued was aimed at influencing public opinion to allow Mr. Spitzer political room to dictate an approval by DOS. No action was taken before news broke of the scandal that prompted Mr. Spitzer’s abrupt resignation.

It is not known whether New York’s newly installed governor will support the Broadwater proposal. At a news conference last week, then-Lieutenant Governor David Paterson indicated he might seek yet another extension. “I really haven’t been able to look at it enough to render a decision,” Mr. Paterson told reporters.

Mr. Hritcko said today the state has not asked for another extension as yet, and Broadwater has not met or communicated with the new governor about the proposed project. “We’re still working with the state agencies with an eye on the April 11 deadline, trying to get everything wrapped up by that date,” Mr. Hritcko said.