As coastal states and communities across the nation struggle with multiple proposals to construct terminals to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), it has become clear that more comprehensive planning and analysis is needed in the current federal and state process for siting and approving LNG facilities.

With more than forty pending LNG proposals nationwide, most experts concede that only six or seven would be needed to meet the nation’s need for additional natural gas supplies. Yet, there is still no coherent planning process to assure that only the most needed, efficient, lowest impact and safest of these facilities will be approved and built.

In California, alone, there are four pending proposals to build LNG import terminals along the coast. Each proposed terminal would employ a different technology in a different location with highly variable impacts on health, public safety, and the environment. Despite these multiple proposals, there has been no comprehensive process that assesses the state’s level of need for LNG and there exists no consistent evaluation criteria for assessing the merits of the different LNG proposals.

Instead, under the current approach, individual LNG terminals are being considered for approval without complete agreement or understanding between the public and the proponents regarding the level of need for LNG or confidence that facilities, if built, will incorporate the best technology and safety precautions that the industry has to offer.

While the state has conducted analysis of the need for natural gas, an additional LNG-specific Needs Assessment must be completed prior to the approval of any LNG facilities in California. This assessment must be transparent, provide an opportunity for meaningful public input, and include an analysis of whether California’s energy needs can be feasibly met through aggressive conservation, the use of renewable energy sources, and/or supply of natural gas from other domestic sources.In addition, a comprehensive and rigorous set of evaluation criteria must be established that can be used to analyze the different LNG proposals. These criteria will provide a means to evaluate the four proposed LNG terminals for California in terms of their impacts to the public health, safety, the environment and to the local communities in which they would be sited.
Like other coastal states targeted for LNG import terminals, California is facing mounting corporate and federal pressure to quickly approve LNG projects without clear and adequate planning or review. California must take a lead role in assuring that these decisions are not unduly rushed and are made in a manner that protects the health and safety of our communities, our environment, and the reliability of our energy supply. Then, and only then,
will decisions for the State’s energy future reflect sound public policy.

ORGANIZATIONS AS OF 6/10/05:

California Coastal Coalition
California Coastal Protection Network
California Earth Corps
California League of Conservation Voters
Center for Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Technologies (CEERT)
City of Malibu
Community Environmental Council
Environment California
Environmental Defense Center
Joint Border Power Plant Working Group
Heal the Bay
League for Coastal Protection
LNGDanger.Com
Long Beach Citizens for Utility Reform
Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Ocean Conservancy-Santa Barbara
Field Office
Orange County Coastkeeper
Pacific Environment
Physicians for Social Responsibility - LA
Planning and Conservation League
ProPeninsula
Public Citizen
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
San Diego Baykeeper
San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper- Environment in the
Public Interest
Santa Monica Baykeeper
Saviers Road Design
Sierra Club California
Sierra Club Harbor Vision Task Force
Southern California Watershed Alliance
Surfrider Foundation
Vallejo for Community Planned Renewal
Vote the Coast (VTC))
Wildcoast/Baja Coastkeeper

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