WASHINGTON — A controversial liquefied natural gas terminal will probably be built in Fall River by about 2011 — despite strong opposition from the city, neighboring communities, and the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island — a top official of the embattled project’s sponsor predicted yesterday.

“We are cautiously optimistic” that the LNG terminal plan will clear the necessary regulatory and judicial hurdles to be completed, said Gordon Shearer, president and chief executive officer of Hess LNG LLC, a corporate affiliate of Weaver’s Cove Energy, the sponsor of the project.

Shearer told reporters that he based his optimism on several factors. By his interpretation, for example, the rulings thus far on lawsuits against the project are good signs that the energy company will win a key federal court appeal of a favorable 2005 decision on the proposed terminal by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Shearer confirmed, however, that the strong political opposition is adding to the projected cost of the planned terminal for incoming LNG tankers. Shearer said the cost is now likely to be in the $425-million to $500-million range. Early estimates for the Weaver’s Cove project had been between $350 million and $400 million, he said. But he argued that it still makes economic sense to build the Fall River project because LNG is in such high demand in the Northeast.

Fall River Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. disputed what he described as “spin” from Shearer that is intended to soothe shareholders in the Hess-Weaver’s Cove company. “They have to be raising questions” about the rising cost of the long-delayed project, Lambert said of the shareholders.

Governor Carcieri’s spokesman, Jeff Neal, echoed that point. He asserted, moreover, that there is “a real chance of getting the original FERC decision overturned.”

Even if the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upholds FERC’s initial green light for a key regulatory permit for the LNG terminal, the builders would still face a number of obstacles, Neal said.

“Governor Carcieri remains committed to blocking this proposal,” Neal said.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch faulted FERC for what he described as too much emphasis on the cost and location issues in the Fall River LNG case and too little emphasis on the popular opposition, environmental issues and other concerns.

Shearer spoke at a Washington forum for reporters and editors sponsored by McGraw-Hill and Platt’s, publishers of Inside Energy and other journals that cover the energy industry. Lambert and other opponents were interviewed by telephone.

Shearer said his side expects by the end of this year to win the appeal of the FERC decision, filed by opponents of the LNG plant. In a nutshell, Shearer argued that the court challenge to the FERC decision will fail because FERC carefully followed the rules laid down for its deliberations under federal regulatory law.

The company also foresees a favorable nod from the Coast Guard on plans that the company has made to ship LNG to the terminal aboard comparatively small tankers that, according to Shearer, would be able to safely pass both the old Brightman Street Bridge and the new span being built over the Taunton River between Fall River and Somerset.

Shearer said the company undertook the plan for smaller tankers to counter federal legislation that forbade demolition of the old bridge.

Another good sign for the project, Shearer said, is that the company recently completed its purchase of the 73-acre site in Fall River where it plans to build the LNG terminal.

Lambert and the city’s corporation counsel, Thomas F. McGuire, painted a starkly different picture of the pending appeals court case, and the new LNG tanker transport plan in particular.

“Our major argument is that FERC just never considered” the current Weaver’s Cove plan that contemplates the use of the new, smaller LNG tankers, McGuire said. Because the new plan would entail the use of more tankers than the earlier plan, as well as more trips in and out of the terminal on the Taunton River, it follows that the federal agency must renew its scrutiny of the entire Weaver’s Cove proposal, according to Lambert and McGuire.

Shearer responded that FERC’s original ruling left room for it to reexamine such specific issues as tanker transport.

“We believe that the Weaver’s Cove officials are being unrealistically optimistic about their ability to overcome local opposition and the many regulatory hurdles” that stand before completion of the LNG terminal, Carcieri spokesman Neal said.

jmulligan@belo-dc.com