Several Ventura County government officials and business members support the proposed liquefied natural gas facility called Clearwater Port.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
It was a case of liquefied natural gas déjà vu last week in Oxnard as the city’s Performing Arts Center played host to yet another hearing on a proposed LNG facility near the Malibu coast. State and federal officials conducted two scoping sessions (one in the afternoon and one in the evening) in preparation for the drafting of an environmental impact statement/environmental impact report for the plan to convert an abandoned oil platform approximately 35 miles from Malibu into an LNG plant.
This was the second consecutive week a LNG facility scoping hearing took place in Southern California. One took place the previous week at Los Angeles International Airport for the OceanWay project, proposed for 21 miles off the coast from Point Dume.
Many people who earlier this year opposed BHP Billiton’s LNG proposal, Cabrillo Port, attended the meeting, which took place at the same place where Cabrillo Port was voted down by the State Lands Commission just five months ago. That project eventually was then voted against by the California Coastal Commission and was further rejected by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although this proposal, coming from Houston-based NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc., has differences from Cabrillo Port, many speakers at the hearing drew comparisons.
“They are still here,” Malibu Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Conley Ulich said about the perceived problems with LNG. “I believe we can do better. We can do conservation and use alternative fuels. We don’t need to keep relying on this fossil fuel, this dinosaur, this LNG.”
Her statement was in contrast to Camarillo business owner Robert Taylor, who also sits on the school board in that city.
“I don’t understand why people are comparing this project to BHP Billiton’s,” Taylor said. “It’s like comparing soccer to hockey. They’re both sports, and that’s about it.”
NorthernStar’s plan is to convert the water-based oil plant, known as Platform Grace, into a facility called ClearWater Port. It would receive liquefied natural gas from most likely Australia and Asian nations, and that would then be vaporized into natural gas and be piped to the Reliant Energy Plant at Mandalay Bay in Ventura County.
The Malibu City Council is already on record opposing the project, just as it opposed the BHP Billiton proposal. Several officials from nearby cities, as well as representatives of environmental agencies and residents, spoke against the facility last week. Oxnard City Councilmember John C. Zaragoza said, “I am deeply concerned with the potential impacts on our community.”
But not all the public officials in attendance were against the project. Carpinteria City Councilmember Joe Armendariz praised the project as a way to bring jobs to the area.
“The voices you hear in opposition are similar to what you will hear for any proposal of any type on the California coast,” Armendariz said. “It makes no difference how good or bad it is, whether it is environmentally friendly or not. The NIMBYism, not in my backyard attitude has become [large]- ‘Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone.'”
Regarding the mostly anti-LNG crowd in attendance, Armendariz added, “Besides death and taxes, the other guarantee is that those who oppose something will always show up in larger numbers and be louder.”
The comments taken from last week’s hearing, and a third hearing that took place the next day in Santa Clarita will be put into the draft of the EIS/EIR, along with comments submitted electronically and through the mail. Hearings on the draft EIS/EIR will then take place early next year.
The application for the Clearwater Port project can be found at the United States Department of Transportation’s Docket Management System Web site, www.dms.dot.gov. The docket number for this project is 28676. All comments must be received by Oct. 18.
Comments for the OceanWay project have been extended to Oct. 31. Electronic comments can also be made at the Department of Transportation site as well. The docket number for the project is 26844.