This is in response to Frank Colonna’s letter that your publication ran last week. We would like to thank Mr. Colonna for his opposition to the LNG terminal proposed for Long Beach. There is no doubt that this project should be seen as Public Enemy Number One both for the safety of Long Beach residents and port workers, and for the security of the U.S.’s busiest port. It would be dangerous, disruptive, and would be a big polluter to the region’s air. LNG has no place anywhere along the West Coast. The debate over LNG isn’t one between Long Beach and Malibu; it’s between fossil fuels and clean, renewable energy. While the local impacts of an LNG terminal are profound, tying our region’s energy future to huge volumes of a new source of greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels is a huge step in the wrong direction.
This is a fact that activists fighting LNG terminals all along the West Coast are very aware of. And it’s something that unites all of us, from Baja to Washington State, in a region-wide coalition called Ratepayers for Affordable Clean Energy (RACE).
Residents of Malibu, Long Beach, and many other Southern California communities have supported RACE in demanding that the state prove that LNG is really needed, something which the state has, unbelievably, refused to do. Our research shows that with conservation and clean energy development, California can avoid any need for LNG terminals. The state has yet to provide any credible evidence that LNG is necessary, or that there is an impending natural gas shortage in North America. Mr. Colonna states as fact that “…they (Malibu activists) volunteer Long Beach as an alternative site for any possible LNG terminal.” This is patently false. The clean energy industry is ready to take on the challenge of the future. Rhone Resch, the president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, says that with proper government support, his industry can add the same amount of energy as is now being planned with LNG terminals. That is the kind of visionary can-do attitude we need. In anyone’s backyard!
Rory Cox
Pacific Environment, San Francisco
Carmen Ramirez
No LNG Community Alliance, Oxnard
Jesse Marquez
Communities for a Safe Environment, Long Beach