BULLETIN - So Cal enviro law group kills Ventura LNG terminal - no active LNG terminal plans in Cal!
Hans Laetz
offshore LNG terminal proposed for the water off Ventura and Malibu
has been defeated by coastal residents.
The California State Lands Commission has terminated the proposal by
NorthernStar Natural Gas to reconfigure an offshore oil platform off
Ventura in to an LNG terminal
The proposal has been on hold for two and a half years while the small
Houston gas company fought a bitter battle in oregon to build an LNG
terminal there. That plant appears doomed as well, as the state of
Oregon has signaled that the company did not file enough information
about the LNG terminal's impact on salmon in the Columbia River.
The Environmental Defense Center also fought a winning battle against
the BHP Billiton "Cabrillo Port" proposal for off the Malibu coast.
With the termination of the "Clearwater Port" proposal from
Northernstar, there are no active plans to build an LNG import
terminal in California, but three remain in Oregon. An import terminal
planned for Canada has been converted to an export plan, and Sempra
has taken advantage of no environmental laws in mexico and built an
import there that is 49 percent controlled by Gazprom of Moscow.
Full column of analysis later today. press release follows:
SANTA BARBARA, CA---The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and Santa
Barbara Channelkeeper (SBCK) celebrated today after learning that the
application for NorthernStar’s Clearwater Port Liquefied Natural Gas
(LNG) project was terminated by the California State Lands Commission.
The application, which would have allowed construction of a massive
LNG terminal offshore Carpinteria and Oxnard, had been suspended since
October 2007, following extensive comments submitted by EDC and SBCK.
“This is the second time in three years we have stopped an LNG project
off our coast,” said Linda Krop, Chief Counsel of the EDC. “The
Clearwater Port LNG proposal threatened the Santa Barbara Channel with
a major source of air and water pollution and harm to migrating whales
and other sensitive wildlife. The LNG terminal would have been located
adjacent to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, and LNG
tankers would have travelled within Sanctuary boundaries.”
“The termination of the Clearwater Port LNG application is great news
for the Santa Barbara Channel,” said Kira Redmond, Executive Director
of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper. “This project would have brought
upwards of 150 supertankers (each the length of three football fields)
to our Channel every year, threatening our coast with pollution and
numerous other health and safety risks.”
On October 17, 2007, EDC and SBCK submitted a lengthy list of
objections to the State Lands Commission and U.S. Coast Guard. These
objections, along with other comments, led to the suspension of the
application for the Clearwater Port project on October 23, 2007. As
part of the suspension, NorthernStar was required to respond to 416
“data gaps” identified by the Commission and Coast Guard. Many of
these gaps were identified by EDC and SBCK.
When two years passed and NorthernStar had still failed to respond to
the voluminous data request, EDC asked the State Lands Commission to
terminate the Clearwater Port application. The Commission subsequently
sent a letter to NorthernStar on December 3, 2009, giving the company
90 days to submit the required data. NorthernStar did not respond
adequately, and the Commission terminated the Clearwater Port
application on
906 Garden Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone (805)963-1622 FAX
(805)962-3152 www.EnvironmentalDefenseCenter.org
March 10, 2010. The Commission released its termination letter to EDC
and SBCK today, March 16, 2010 (see attached).
LNG is natural gas that is produced in other countries and
“supercooled” to approximately -260°F, so that it can be condensed
into a liquid form for trans-oceanic shipping. LNG is a fossil fuel
produced from on- and offshore drilling, just like other oil and gas
supplies. Most LNG is imported from Asia and the Pacific Rim. LNG is a
significant driver of global climate change, given the lifecycle of
overseas extraction, trans-oceanic shipping, domestic refinement back
into natural gas, and eventual combustion as fuel.
“LNG is not the answer to our energy demands,” cited Krop. “LNG is
dangerous, polluting and a major contributor to global climate change.
By stopping this project, we can pursue a path towards more a more
sustainable, clean energy future.”
“Stopping this project is critical to protecting the incredible
biodiversity of the Santa Barbara Channel,” noted Redmond. “The
Clearwater Port LNG project would have threatened marine life by
generating pollution and underwater noise, requiring the intake of
millions of gallons of seawater each year, and increasing risks of
collisions with ships.”
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper hired EDC in September 2007 to help them
evaluate and respond to the Clearwater Port proposal. EDC had
previously represented the California Coastal Protection Network in
defeating BHP Billiton’s proposed Cabrillo Port LNG project offshore
Oxnard in Ventura County.