Noted author Hans Laetz may also be right. The liquefied natural gas processing vessels at sea may explode, creating Malibu’s own MOAB and showering the city with flaming fireballs which will ignite our irreplaceable sagebrush and shake the ocean floor generating tsunamis to which the surfers will flock creating massive traffic jams, mayhem and carnage. But wait, on the brighter side the tsunamis will douse the flames, and the backwash will purge our septic tanks, heal the bay, clean our decks, and brighten the town in preparation for the festive holiday season ahead and send the surfers riding the wave to the North Shore.
The reality: any explosion at sea won’t be caused by LNG because neither LNG nor its vapor can explode when properly vented in an unconfined environ-
ment-and 12 miles off shore is certainly an unconfined environment. The vapor we see coming from the space shuttle before lift-off is venting from its liquid fuel tanks into the unconfined environment, the atmosphere. LNG is like powdered milk; it’s compact to ship and can be reconstituted upon delivery.
I fear that our noted author, or possibly author without notes, is confusing liquefied natural gas (LNG) with compressed natural gas (CNG). LNG is stored cryogenically at minus 260F and at a pressure of less than 5 psi while CNG is stored at room temperature and at pressures up to 3,600 psi. By comparison, the pressure in soda pop cans, like car tires, vary from 25 to 45 psi depending on flavor.
Let’s not forget the timely words from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who warns us that the United States must drastically increase LNG imports to keep the economy healthy. It’s too bad that good capitalists like us have to depend on a English-Australian consortium, BHP Billiton LTD, to pump our gas. Wonder if they do the windows?
Jack Singleton