Two state agencies will vote on Cabrillo Port within the next nine days. Clocks starts ticking Monday for governor and a federal official to make their decisions on the project.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Following nearly four years of rhetoric from advocates and opponents, the fate of a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas port 14 miles off the Malibu coast could become more clear over the next week or so. BHP Billiton’s Cabrillo Port project goes before two state agencies and the United States Coast Guard in a nine-day period beginning Wednesday, and the staffs of the two state agencies have opposing views on whether the project should be approved. However, the staffs can only make recommendations; it is the agencies’ voting bodies that must make the final decisions. However, their verdicts could be overturned by a governor veto.
The Coast Guard is holding a hearing at 5 p.m. this week on Wednesday at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center. The Coast Guard will not be voting on the proposal, but the meeting triggers two deadlines-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have 45 days and U.S. Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton will have 90 days to come to a decision on the project. Connaughton can issue a license with specific instructions for BHP Billiton, but the project would be axed if the governor rejects it. Schwarzenegger has not taken a public stance on this proposal.
The State Lands Commission will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on Monday, also at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, to decide on permits for the land portion of the project. Following what could be several hours of public comment, the commission-consisting of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, state Controller John Chiang and state Finance Director Michael C. Genest-is expected to vote on the project. A 60-page staff report issued to the commission last Friday recommends the project be approved.
Although the SLC staff recommendation acknowledges some environmental concerns detailed in the final environmental impact report that was issued last month, it states the project’s benefits outweigh any negative impacts.
“The primary benefit would be increased natural gas supplies, enhancement to gas supply and transportation capacity into the state, and diversification of both supply sources and means of transportation,” the recommendation states.
The proposed terminal would be anchored to a 22.2-mile pipeline, located at a depth of 2,800 feet. Described as being 14 stories tall and the length of three football fields, the ship would receive natural gas from around the world that has been cooled and compressed. The gas would then be reheated to return it to its natural state, and be piped onshore at Oxnard, where the Southern California Gas Co would then distribute it for use.
BHP Billiton and other Cabrillo Port advocates have said the project would bring much-needed clean natural gas into California, and reduce energy costs. But environmentalists and local governments, including the Malibu City Council, have criticized the proposal as an environmental risk, and fear a disaster, either through terrorism or human error, could lead to catastrophic consequences.
The California Coastal Commission’s staff has sided with opponents of the project. Its voting body will take up the recommendation on April 12 during a meeting in Santa Barbara beginning at 9 a.m. The commission has not been asked to vote on the project as a whole, but specifically whether it would meet the standards of state and federal coastal protection laws. The Coastal Commission staff says the project fails to do that.
“Staff concludes that the project would result in numerous substantial impacts to coastal resources,” the report states. “Staff further concludes that although the proposal includes mitigation measures that would allow it to conform to most of the [coastal protection laws], the proposal would not be fully consistent with policies related to air quality, would not be mitigated to the maximum extent feasible to address its impacts to air quality, including its expected greenhouse gas emissions, and that it would not be in the public welfare to approve such a project.”
The Coastal Commission staff report specifically states that the project includes too much air pollution and would emit greenhouse gases “at levels that would result in adverse effects to coastal resources in the form of sea level rise, ocean warming, increased erosion, habitat displacement and others.” It further states that the project would be harmful to marine life because of, among other things, underwater noises that would affect mammals, vessels and equipment that would create “a risk to marine mammals due to entanglement and vessel strikes,” and that use of too much seawater would harm small life such as larvae and plankton. Lighting, as well, would harm seabirds.
A Coastal Commission rejection could be appealed to U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. But BHP Billiton would have to return to the Coastal Commission if it manages to move its project along. The commission will also vote on a coastal development permit for the project. Also, the city of Oxnard is in charge of considering a CDP for the land portion of the project. The city’s decision could be appealed to the Coastal Commission.
Meanwhile, U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman, who heads the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and represents a district that includes Malibu, announced on Friday that he is expanding his probe into whether the White House pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen the air quality standards for Cabrillo Port. Originally, the project was supposed to meet regulations for onshore facilities, but the EPA later changed that requirement so the port only had to meet the less-restrictive standards of being located in the Channel Islands. Waxman has demanded that he receive all communications regarding Cabrillo Port among the EPA, the White House and BHP Billiton by this Wednesday. Waxman has already made similar requests, and says he did not receive the materials.
LNG hearings
U.S. Coast Guard
Wednesday, April 4,
5 p.m.-8 p.m.
Oxnard Performing Arts Center
800 Hobson Way, Oxnard.
Coast Guard’s Open House begins at 3 p.m.
California State Lands Commission
Monday, April 9, 10 a.m. (full day hearing)
Oxnard Performing Arts Center
800 Hobson Way, Oxnard
California Coastal Commission
Thursday, April 12, 9 a.m.
Santa Barbara
Doubletree Inn
633 East Cabrillo Blvd.
Santa Barbara