The LNG Kiss Goodnight

Controversial natural-gas terminal in Long Beach, Calif., gets the boot

Friends, we are gathered here today to wo0t the death of a planned liquefied-natural-gas terminal in Long Beach, Calif. Citing a city attorney's conclusion that the environmental review of the project "is and in all likelihood will remain legally inadequate," Long Beach officials yesterday unanimously voted to pull the plug. The death of the project, sited in the busiest port in the nation, comes after years of controversy; concerns largely centered around safety in the event of a terrorist attack or earthquake. "This project would have put over 140,000 people who live and work within three miles of that LNG terminal at risk," said Harvey Morris, an attorney for the California Public Utilities Commission. An executive with Mitsubishi-ConocoPhillips, the partnership backing the project, said of the decision, "We're very surprised. ... We assumed things were going through a normal environmental review process." Uh, yes, they were -- and sometimes it actually works.