Opposing LNG Cabrillo Port

[Ace]

City Unanimously Adopts Resolution To Oppose LNG And Co-Hosts Fundraiser Screening To Oppose Cabrillo Port

by KRISS PERRAS RUNNING WATERS
PCH Press
September 11, 2006 8:00 PM PT

MALIBU - The Malibu City Council tonight unanimously adopted a resolution to oppose the Cabrillo Deepwater Port Project planned off the coast of Malibu. Local citizen and activists Natalie Soloway spoke before the council to raise awareness of an upcoming screening of the al Gore film An Inconvenient Truth to be held this Friday September 15 at 7:00 PM.

The screening will be prefaced by a $250 suggested donation fundraiser hosted by local actor and activist Pierce Brosnan and held at the Michael Landon Center. The event is co-hosted by Coastal Advocates-California Coastal Protection Network.

The city has been officially opposing the Cabrillo Port project since May of this year. At that time the Council offered up $50,000 in funds to help oppose the project and have added the item to the list of issues the city's consultant firm is to pursue.

The BHP facility is the planned deepwater Cabrillo Port. It�s mooring, if the facility is approved, would be in 2,900 feet of water 13.83 miles off the Ventura County and Los Angeles County shoreline near Lea Carrillo State Beach and the Malibu city limit. The port would be moored for a minimum forty-years, however the license would have no firm expiration date.

Cabrillo Port is a planned three football fields long and fourteen to sixteen stories high massive structure. The port would berth three large spherical Moss tanks and store 73-milion gallons of LNG. However, the design plans include a second berthing. The three tanks rise more than 160 feet off the water making them visible from Malibu and Oxnard.

The Cabrillo Port is an untried technology project that will use pipes to transport LNG that burns at a higher BTU than natural gas. Pipes have been an issue in the East Coast. Because of the industrial process of liquefying and regasifying LNG, new chemical compositions are created that we do not yet fully understand.

In 2005, Washington Gas, a District of Columbia Utility identified approximately 1,400 leaks in a 100-square mile area in the county.

The DC Utility released that the unusual leak patterns resulted from the deterioration of rubber seals contained in mechanical couplings, which join sections of distribution mains and service lines.

Washington Gas engaged ENVIRON International Corp., Polymer Solutions, Inc., and Akron Rubber Development Laboratory in February to investigate and identify the root cause and possible solutions.

ENVIRON, the lead consultant, investigated a number of plausible factors that could have precipitated the premature deterioration of seals in the affected area. It also isolates three leading contributors: winter ground temperatures, aging seals, and gas composition.

Based on the findings, the DC Utility released that the chemical composition of the gas that supplies the affected areas of Prince George�s County was the key contributing factor that precipitated the deterioration of rubber seals.

Washington Gas estimates the costs of the repairs at $144 million, which will be offset by consumers of the gas.

The affected area of Prince George�s County is supplied with natural gas from the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in southern Maryland. The terminal is owned and operated by Dominion Resources and has supplied the affected area in Prince George�s County for the past two years. The gate station that delivers gas supply to the affected area serves as the primary transfer point for Cove Point gas in that region.

The Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) comes from a plant in Calvert County. The plant's is owned by a Virginia-based company called Dominion Resources, one of the nation's largest producers of energy that includes coal, nuclear, gas, oil and hydro and a $13.97 Billion company. Dominion has applied for an expansion of the Calvert County.

Washington Gas has filed a protest with federal authorities against Dominion's expansion, blaming the energy giant's imported LNG for the leaks over the last couple of winters, including an explosion at a District Heights home in 2005.

Baltimore State Senator Norman Stone has sponsored legislation which would not only block the $740 million expansion plan but also force the facility to shut down.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects continued demand for LNG in every market sector. By 2020, 14 per cent of U.S. natural gas supply may come from imported LNG, an increase from the 2 per cent that is currently imported.

Trying to fuel your home's stove, range top, water heater, dryer, furnace, or hearth with these imports could result in some unpleasant risks that are not being addressed, namely elevated carbon monoxide emissions, increased yellow tipping, and firing rates that exceed nameplate rating.

The LNG industry is experimenting to find acceptable levels of BTU for LNG so there would be a compatibility with the U.S. standard rating for BTU's and appliances. However, with the changing molecular levels of the gas, there is no guarantee the risks will be acceptably alleviated. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is investigating the need to address LNG interchangeability in the U.S.

In California, legislation SB426 which is currently held at desk, would require the California Energy Commission to evaluate and rank every proposed liquefied natural gas terminal and directs the Governor to disapprove an application for a license to construct and operate an LNG terminal if the project does not meet identified criteria. An LNG terminal would be approved if it were evaluated and ranked by CEC and is one of the two highest ranked sites.

LNG is a natural gas that is cooled to minus 260 degrees, condensed 600 times and is then stored in tanks. Currently there are only four onshore LNG plants based in the Continental United States but none existing and functioning anywhere in the world such as the BHP Billiton off-shore proposal near Malibu and Oxnard.

BHP has been the largest spender in lobbying. The global mining giant has spent $1.8 million at the state level, a figure that does not include the federal level. The company has courted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sending him on trips to Australia and buddying up to his administration as the decision process continues.

The very idea of such a project off the coast of Malibu has brought record numbers out to town hall style meetings, brought together people who normally would be politically opposed into LNG taskforce type meetings and seen a barrage of letters to the editors of local newspapers who cannot seem to say enough to oppose the project.

LNG licenses fall under the Deepwater Port Act of 1974. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center defines the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 as provision for authority for the �Secretary of Transportation to issue licenses for the ownership, construction and operation of deepwater ports (33 U.S.C. 1503).�

And, the Deepwater Port Act further defines the parameters for the applicant as follows:

�Applicants for a license must meet certain criteria, including the demonstration that the project will be constructed with the best technology to minimize adverse impacts on the marine environment and compliance with the Clean Water Act, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, and Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.�

And even where the authority to decide if a project should have a license or not has come under fire. Schwarzenegger has made it known he feels the decision should fall at the Gubernatorial level. Bush has made it clear the decision should fall under the federal purview. One thing that is clear: LNG will be a debated issue as long as energy crises are the result of corruption, greed and lack of accountability to Utility Commissions that cut off contracts from one provider in favor of other providers.

[Ace]

Sydney Morning Herald: Shaken - and very stirred up


September 13, 2006


James Bond is taking on the Big Aussie and Kate Askew, for one, is ducking for cover.

Hedging fun … Douglass, Turnbull and Mackay.

ONE wonders whether Chip Goodyear will be calling on the help of The Terminator in his fight against James Bond.

Unfortunately for the chief of BHP Billiton, Pierce Brosnan, the retiring James Bond, happens to live on the bit of Malibu coastline off which the group plans to park its bloody great big liquified natural gas facility.

This Friday night at California's Malibu Bluffs Park, Brosnan opens a fundraiser intended to help see off Goodyear and his floating gas tanks.

"Bring friends, family and neighbors (and your own blankets and lawn chairs) for this enlightening evening," the flyer suggests.

One fears BHP's traditional, flack-masterminded method of seeing off grumpy residents might not be so successful in the case of a Hollywood movie star.

However, perhaps Chip could plead assistance from that other movie man, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in his role as governor of California has backed BHP's gas plans.

[sparklingblue]

This is horrible and I hope that this thing will never be built. Not off the Malibu coast and not anywhere else.

Haven't they read The Swarm? (Okay-the book is fiction, but nevertheless one can learn a lesson from it.)

[Ace]

From the event held on Friday- click thumbnails for larger photos:






www.coastaladvocates.com/

[Yuliya]

I know I'm about to express a very unpopular point of view, but Coastal Advocates' arguments seem to be very lopsided. They outline the dangers of exporting or using LNG, but they do not comapre them with dangers of producing or using domestic fuel, which is also open to terrorists' attachs and causes global warming.

It seems to me there are three issues here:
- importing vs. using domestic
- using LNG vs. using any other kind of fossil fuel
- building the port elsewhere.

I doubt the first two problems won't be less harmful or dangerous. I can't tell because those articles provide no information. They're probably right about economic impact, though not using domeestic fuel seems to be the general US stratgy, and I can see the point in this case.

As for building the port elsewhere - if this really is a unique area. then I wholeheartedly agree, though I wonder where else it can be done if the fuel is brought via the Pacific. I'd even agree that maybe it shouldn't be built at all if it can't be built without harming the environment. It's a strong argument, but unfortunately, it will be impeded by the fact that among those who benefit from the ban are the owners of the most expensive property in the state.

[Ace]

If BHP had not circumvented environmental proofs and standards via lobbying they'd have more of a side to tell IMO. It's one thing to want a product that in the long run might provide cleaner and more abundant energy but if in the short or even long term it does more harm than good, because significant criteria it should be subjected to, according to existing law, was skipped over then there's a serious reason to protest.

And since the entire city of Malibu is protesting it has citywide implications and not just problems for it's wealthiest residents as concerns property values (though I'd imagine they'd plummet with that eyesore out there that was probably leaking chemicals into the water). It also has implication for the entire coastline which is why Coastal Advocates in involved.

The Cabrillo Port is an untried technology project that will use pipes to transport LNG that burns at a higher BTU than natural gas. Pipes have been an issue in the East Coast. Because of the industrial process of liquefying and regasifying LNG, new chemical compositions are created that we do not yet fully understand.

In 2005, Washington Gas, a District of Columbia Utility identified approximately 1,400 leaks in a 100-square mile area in the county.

The DC Utility released that the unusual leak patterns resulted from the deterioration of rubber seals contained in mechanical couplings, which join sections of distribution mains and service lines.

Washington Gas engaged ENVIRON International Corp., Polymer Solutions, Inc., and Akron Rubber Development Laboratory in February to investigate and identify the root cause and possible solutions.

BHP are already being investigated for leaks and damages in the hundreds of millions for their operations in Washington D.C. where actions are being taken to shut them down.

Could you imagine the kind of damage similiar leaks like this could make in the California coastline not only to residents but the ocean life and the entire ecosystem?

Then there's the issue of the billlionare owner of PNG lobbying Gov. Schwartzenggar extensively who now conveniently wants to trump several Fed acts and authorites and put the authority to build this under himself.

LNG licenses fall under the Deepwater Port Act of 1974. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center defines the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 as provision for authority for the Secretary of Transportation to issue licenses for the ownership, construction and operation of deepwater ports (33 U.S.C. 1503).

And, the Deepwater Port Act further defines the parameters for the applicant as follows:

Applicants for a license must meet certain criteria, including the demonstration that the project will be constructed with the best technology to minimize adverse impacts on the marine environment and compliance with the Clean Water Act, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, and Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.

And even where the authority to decide if a project should have a license or not has come under fire. Schwarzenegger has made it known he feels the decision should fall at the Gubernatorial level. Bush has made it clear the decision should fall under the federal purview. One thing that is clear: LNG will be a debated issue as long as energy crises are the result of corruption, greed and lack of accountability to Utility Commissions that cut off contracts from one provider in favor of other providers.

[Yuliya]

I wonder if the leak of LNG will case more damage than a leak of any other type of fuel.

It's possible that LNG is, indeed, a lot more evil than any other type of fuel. However, it's still unclear to me what Coastal Advocates are trying to achieve - ban building the port in Malibu and moving it elsewhere, ban LNG in favor of safer, better fuel, or ban fuel import in order to explore domestic resources. IMO, if they want to achieve something, they better declare thei goal. This site is mostly advertising, though, so it's possible it's not meant to be clear.

[Ace]

I think right now they want to ban the start of construction of this facility in the area chosen (and probably the entire California Coast) before it's even passed the regulations and laws mandated by fedaeral law. I think they want to hold off any construction until LNG have proved they've fixed their highly destructive leaks in Washington D.C. If those leaks were thought just the cost of doing any kind of fuel business and no worse than any other kind there wouldn't be a massive investigation into them and the equipment and methods used. Equipment and methods that supposedly hasn't been improved on for the planned California facility.

I don't think it's up to Coastal in this case to decide or even map out and prove which fuel is better in the long run and what alternatives they should use so much as it is very much in their provence to help expose that BHP has not met current environmental standards and that the Gov't of California after extensive lobbying on the part of BHP is trying to help them continue to circumvent those existing federal standards by placing it all under the supervision of the State Gov't.

BHP isn't building these plants because they're some kind of public benefactor. They're a huge business and they should certainly be held to the clean air and water laws and regulations. It's up to them to prove they have and if they haven't then to change their facilities and product until they are.

[Lauryn]

One of the potential hazards to consider is that if the LNG returns to a vapor if spilled, human error, earthquake, or terrorist attack could create a "pool fire" or ignitable "vapor cloud" that is extremely dangerous, threatening life and property for 3 miles or more in all directions from the facility.

Exxon-Mobil is trying to build an LNG terminal in Mobile Bay, my own backyard, and while they have successfully lobbied the Port Authority for permission a portion of the area they want to use are submerged lands near a Navy Homeport. These lands are not under federal control and use requires Governor Bob Riley's signature. He's refused to consider it until FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) does an independent site specific safety study. They they could go as far as they have (obtaining federal and local Port Authority permission) without any kind of independent safety study boggles my mind. Needless to say, many citizens have protested the building of the terminal and the railroading through of this project without due consideration of safety and environmental concerns.

On the development front, I was just reading about a new process called GTL (gas to liquids.) It is apparently possible to transform natural gas to high quality diesel. While fairly expensive to produce as yet, an advantage it has over LNG is that GTL is much cheaper and safer to transport than LNG is (it can go either by tanker, truck, or rail) and it produces a very clean form of diesel that is likely to be able to conform to environmental regulations. It's always good to keep in mind that there will be all sorts of new fuel possibilities out there, for example, though savings from using deisel from GTL is a more viable scenario for Europe right now than the US.

[Ace]

AAP: Hollywood A-listers take on BHP Billiton

Wednesday Sep 20

Hollywood's biggest stars are going to war with Australian resources giant BHP Billiton.

A who's who of A-List celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron, Barbra Streisand and Cher, have launched a high-profile campaign in the US to halt BHP Billiton's $US5 billion ($A6.67 billion) plan to build a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal off the coast of the Los Angeles seaside community of Malibu.

Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, a longtime resident of Malibu, has also joined the fight against the company.

"We want to stop the BHP Billiton LNG terminal now!" a letter signed by the 45 high-profile actors, singers, supermodels and Hollywood executives states.

Leading the A-List campaign is former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, who gave a keynote address at a fundraiser in Malibu last week.

The function's attendees were asked to donate $US250 ($A330) each.

"This proposed liquefied natural gas terminal is part of a globalised assault taking place on our Earth," Brosnan said.

"We cannot let this project be approved."

The campaign, if successful, would be a blow to BHP Billiton and the Australian economy, with the project potentially worth $A15 billion to Australia in exports.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard deemed the project so important for Australia he flew to Los Angeles in 2004 to lobby California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The BHP Billiton LNG proposal involves the construction of a massive deepwater terminal 23km off the coast of Malibu. The gas would be brought to the terminal by ship from Australia and then piped from the terminal to the US mainland.

Brosnan said the terminal would be 14 stories high and three football fields in length.

Malibu City Council has also launched an aggressive campaign against the LNG project, with council members voting unanimously "to protect and preserve Malibu by strongly opposing the proposed LNG terminals".

The council has allocated $US50,000 ($A66,600) to fight the anti-terminal campaign.

The project could receive US government approval as early as December.

Malibu Council, the celebrities and other environmental groups are heartened by other grassroots campaigns in the US that led to similar proposals being scrubbed.

"Other communities such as Humbolt and Vallejo have successfully stopped LNG facilities from being built," Brosnan said in his address.

"We can, too."

The terminal's opponents claim the project would be an environmental polluter, negatively impact "the health and safety of our families" and would be an attractive terrorist target.

"This floating LNG terminal will emit more than 200 tons of smog-producing pollutants per year, in an area long known for high occurrences of asthma in both children and adults," the letter signed by the celebrities states.

"Additionally, it is estimated that the project as a whole will emit 25,000,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, further contributing to global warming."

Howard, after his meeting with Schwarzenegger in 2004, backed Australia's LNG safety record.

"We of course can boast a great record of safety and reliability over a period of 15 years we've been supplying LNG to Japan," Howard said at the time.

"No accidents, always delivered on time. Something in the order of 26,000 voyages that can be pointed to without any difficulties."

Howard also downplayed the terminal as a terrorist target, noting the distance the terminal would be located off the coast of Malibu.

Several other companies have proposed rival LNG terminals on the Californian mainland.

"Terrorists always want to inflict maximum misery on people and if they can attack an installation which is closer to a large centre of population, that might be a more attractive target than something that's offshore," Howard said.

Schwarzenegger surprised all sides in the LNG debate a year ago when he said the BHP Billiton proposal "could probably be the most safest one for California".

In January, Australia's Woodside Petroleum announced a rival LNG terminal plan the company billed as safer than the BHP Billiton project.

Woodside's project would not involve a giant terminal built off the coast.

Woodside plans to build special ships that could deliver the natural gas straight into an underwater pipeline 24km off the California coast.

Other celebrities who are supporting the anti-BHP Billiton proposal include Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Sting, Dick Van Dyke, Jane Seymour, Dylan McDermott, Martin Sheen, James Brolin, Kenny G, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Cindy Crawford, Daryl Hannah and Ed Harris.

[Ace]

Malibu Times: A tempest over the terminal

Stars join locals at Bluff's Park in the fight against a proposed liquefied natural gas facility.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

By Kim Devore / Staff Writer

Celebrities, politicians, activists and families flocked to Bluff's Park on Friday Night for a special screening of the cautionary environmental film, "An Inconvenient Truth," and to voice their opposition to the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal off the coast of Malibu. The facility, which critics say would change the face of Malibu forever, is described as being an industrial behemoth 14 stories high and the length of several football fields that would sit off the coast of Malibu.

The gathering drew a diverse crowd, even a member of the normally tight-lipped California Coastal Commission.

"I'm very concerned about the possible effects of LNG to the environment and the people of Malibu," said coastal commissioner Steven Kram.

A prescreening reception drew everyone from locals like family doctor Jeff Harris to noted photographer Lyndie Benson as well as acclaimed actor Pierce Brosnan, activist Ozzie Silna and Assemblywoman Fran Pavley.

"LNG is part of the globalized assault that is taking place on our earth," Brosnan said. "We are determined to fight this project."

Brosnan and his wife, Keely Shaye, are committed environmentalists.

Other supporters in the fight against the LNG terminal include some of Malibu's most famous names including Barbra Streisand, James Brolin, Roma Downey, Mark Burnett, Mary Steenburgen, Ted Danson, Kenny G, Cindy Crawford, Tom Hanks, Martin Landau, Jane Seymour, James Keach, Daniel Stern, Charlize Theron, Dick Van Dyke and Sting.

Global assault was also the subject of the critically acclaimed Al Gore film, which drew hundreds of environmental supporters and depicts the irreversible effects of global warming on the planet.

"I've seen the film before," said Realtor Susan Shaw, "and it is scary."

Brosnan, who had come to the park for the screening, previously had the first page of his Web site devoted to a letter promoting the movie.

"This movie packs a punch that ricochets right through the heart of the planet," Brosnan told The Malibu Times.

The actor's Web site's home page now has a letter inspiring supporters to fight the LNG facility, proposed by Australia's BHP Billiton.

In his remarks before the gathering, Brosnan shared his personal journey to Malibu, which took place more than 20 years ago when his first wife, Cassie, was stricken with cancer.

"I witnessed the deep connection people feel for the coast and the ocean," he said. "The ocean heals us and we look to it for inspiration."

Brosnan warned that the pristine coast of Malibu could soon become like Santa Barbara or San Onofre, which, in addition to scenic vistas, are home to oil derricks and nuclear power plants. Members of the nonprofit California Coastal Protection Network also said that the LNG facility might become a terrorist target. A 2004 Congressional Research Report states that LNG facilities could be vulnerable to such attacks.

BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, is awaiting approval of an air quality and water discharge permit for the project from the Environmental Protection Agency. Other permits and approval, including from the governor of California, are necessary for the project to proceed.

Meantime, a great deal of hope is being pinned on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. CCPN Director Susan Jordan expressed concern about the facility being placed over active fault lines off the coast. She urged the crowd to write to the governor to voice their opposition saying, "Tell Governor Schwarzenegger to terminate LNG."

Malibu Councilmember Andy Stern, who sees intervention from the Sacramento powers that be as Malibu's only real hope in stopping the project, echoed those sentiments.

"This [gathering] is great, but we have to get to the governor," he said. "That's the bottom line."

Schwarzenegger has voiced support for the project in the past.

The evening of awareness was sponsored by the CCPN. Volunteers made the rounds with petitions and audience members were asked to get more information from the organization's Web site, www.coastaladvocates.com.

In his closing remarks, Brosnan urged families and friends to think about the future of Malibu and their children, as well saying, "If we do not come together as one, what you see now will be forever altered. We do not inherit the earth from our parents; we borrow it from our children. We cannot do this alone. For our children's sake, we must become global patriots."

[Ace]

News video (that won't play for me-- of course) and Pierce's speech from the event are up on his site: www.piercebrosnan.com/menu.php?mm=4&sm=2&pn=27b

[Ace]

Malibu Surfside News: Project Opponents Shows Solidarity As Cabrillo Port Permit Is Delayed Again

BY HANS LAETZ

Forget the celebrities, an unscripted celestial body of a different sort stole the show at Friday night’s anti-LNG rally, while more than a thousand Malibu residents were watching “An Inconvenient Truth” outdoors at Bluffs Park.

Ten minutes into the movie, just as Al Gore started explaining how thin the Earth’s atmosphere really is, a giant meteor streaked down from the northern sky, breaking into pieces above the outdoor movie screen.

The audience, at first stunned, applauded what could be interpreted as nature’s reminder of who is in charge.

Other stars may have been aligned Friday, as state officials disclosed that the Cabrillo Port permit, scheduled for action last summer, is still on indefinite hold because of the volume of comments and objections received from the public.

“We can’t even begin to estimate when we can begin the next phase of hearing,” a state environmental official said.

The movie showing, sponsored by Coastal Advocates-CCPN, the City of Malibu and the Malibu Surfside News, gathered an overflow crowd on the soccer field, and was perhaps the largest movie showing in Malibu history. It was the first anti-LNG event in the city, where civic activism against the plant is increasing.

“I don’t think Malibu has been as united on this as it has about anything since incorporation, or the sewer,” said longtime political activist Patt Healy at the prescreening fundraiser.

Pierce Brosnan, the former James Bond star and 20-year-Malibu resident, hosted the VIP reception and film, which drew paparazzi and Los Angeles TV stations to the anti-LNG event.

“When you look at Santa Barbara, and wonder how they came to live with those oil platforms, you understand our fight,” Brosnan said. He ticked off environmental problems the BHP Billiton project proposed for 13.8 miles off the Malibu coast could cause.

Local opposition to the Cabrillo Port project was fairly muted until last summer, when a public hearing into environmental impacts gathered a crowd of 350 screaming, unhappy Malibu residents. Since then, locals have peppered government agencies with written objections to the BHP Billiton energy terminal plan.

Nearly 13,000 objections, many of them form letters, were sent to the Environmental Protection Agency when it asked for public comment on air and water pollution permits that BHP Billiton has requested.

A separate, general permit for Cabrillo Port has been on indefinite hold for nearly two years, while state and federal officials seek answers from the company to scientific objections raised by local residents and lawyers and scientists working for the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center.

In Sacramento Monday, a state official confirmed that public hearings on that permit, originally scheduled for last summer and then next month, have once again slipped.

“The schedule depends on several things, such as getting the information that we’ve requested from BHP Billiton to respond to the comments we’ve gotten from Malibu and other sources,” said Dwight Sanders, an environmental planning division chief at the California State Lands Commission.

More than 1,400 specific points raised by the public last summer in regards to the 2,500-page revised environmental impact report have to be sorted out and answered, Sanders said, before the Lands Commission can hold public hearings.

“That delay is a reflection of the fact that there are tremendous problems, raised by both experts and residents, that this [project] would bring about,” said lead attorney Linda Krop at the Environmental Defense Center. “This project, had there been quick approval with no objections, could have had its permits approved in April of ’05.”

Krop estimated that the earliest that the final round of public hearings on the overall permits could be held is in December.

BHP Billiton first filed for permission to use federal and state tidelands for its LNG processing facility off Malibu in 2003, and told stockholders it expected to have permits by 2005 and begin operating in 2010. But the project has been beset by an incomplete application, federal questions about safety, coastal advocates saying it would be ugly and dirty, and news reports about its impact on the coast.

[Ace]

At PB.com

A Day at The Beach to Stop the BHP Billiton LNG Terminal

Join Pierce and Laird Hamilton on Sunday, October 22nd from 9am to 1pm on Malibu's Surfrider Beach.

Click the pdf for more information (poster for the event).

www.piercebrosnan.com/pdf/beach-event.pdf

[Ace]

Press Enterprise: Celebrities protest natural gas facility proposed for Malibu

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ

The Associated Press

Oct 22, 2006

MALIBU

Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and other celebrity residents gathered at Surfrider Beach Sunday to protest a natural gas facility proposed for a site 14 miles off the coast.

"We have to use our voices and ban together and stop this," said Oscar winner Halle Berry.

The gathering also attended by Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke and Tea Leoni was intended to raise awareness about how the energy industry has invested billions to liquefy and ship natural gas across oceans.

There are five facilities proposed for California, with three along the Southern California coastline. One of the world's largest energy companies, Australian-based BHP Billiton, is seeking to build the terminal off the coast of Malibu and Oxnard. A decision is expected next year.

BHP officials say the terminals would provide a reliable source of low-polluting energy. Opponents, however, say the terminals fail to meet clean air requirements and would be terrorist targets.

"We invented smog," said actor Ted Danson. "For us to be increasing that is insane."

Brosnan, who hosted the protest, said his opposition to the terminals extends beyond the beach in his backyard. He plans to oppose other proposed terminals, including one in Long Beach and one in Port Hueneme.

"I would certainly put our best efforts into that as well," said Brosnan. "I think this is for the whole California coastline."

Mark Massara, a lawyer and director of the Sierra Club's California Coastal Program, said the recent celebrity interest in the terminals has helped their cause tremendously.

"This is the greatest thing that has happened to our effort," he said. "We have struggled over the last three years."

Following a pancake breakfast, dozens of surfers, including actress Daryl Hannah on her pink board, paddled out to a sign bobbing in the water. The message to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has the power to veto the proposal, had a picture of the proposed terminal with a red line through it and two words: "Terminate it!"

Published: Sunday, October 22, 2006 16:58 PDT

==============================================

LA Times: A wave of celebrity protest in Malibu

Entertainers join surfers in targeting a massive floating terminal that would warm natural gas from Asia and Australia and pipe it ashore.

By Kenneth R. Weiss, Times Staff Writer

October 23, 2006

The campaign to halt various proposals to build ccccccc off the Southern California coast has been a rather subdued affair — until Sunday, when a parade of celebrities and surfers showed up in Malibu to join the protest.

The target of the demonstration was a massive floating terminal proposed for about 14 miles off the coast by Australian mining giant BHP Billiton.

Until Sunday, the proposed site for the 13-story terminal was thought to be closer to Oxnard, a former farm town best known for years as the butt of jokes by late-night talk show host Johnny Carson.

But maps show the terminal would be nearly as close to Malibu's city line, and celebrities have adopted it as a local issue.

Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford, Dick Van Dyke, Ted Danson, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan and others showed up at Malibu's Surfrider Beach on Sunday to lend their star power to the issue, giving it a brief, if fleeting, moment of international attention. Fans, paparazzi and television networks from as far away as Australia mobbed the celebrities as helicopters hovered.

Daryl Hannah, in a black wetsuit, drew attention by carrying a surfboard across the sand and joining several hundred surfers in a paddle-out protest. Once outside the breakers, the surfers arranged their boards to form a giant circle with a slash through the middle, the worldwide symbol for "prohibited."

"Finally, I'm getting people to pay attention to this issue," said Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Network. "The goal was to send the governor a message: to terminate the terminal. His is the last voice that actually stops this terminal from being approved."

Jordan and others say the proposed terminal would contribute to Southern California's already smoggy skies, potentially harm marine life and use untested technology to warm the explosive gas and bring it onshore.

BHP Billiton has proposed a floating platform about the size of three football fields to unload tankers carrying natural gas from Asia and Australia that has been chilled into liquid form. The plant would warm the fuel and pipe it ashore to heat homes and businesses and generate electricity.

BHP Billiton's proposal has attracted the most attention because it's further along than those of other companies hoping to locate terminals in Long Beach Harbor or offshore locations between Long Beach and Oxnard.

Sempra Energy Co. is moving the fastest in the high-stakes race to corner the market, with a half-built plant just south of the border in Mexico.

Beside the celebrities that hit the beach Sunday, other famous Malibu residents — including Barbra Streisand, Cher, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny DeVito, Tom Hanks, Olivia Newton John and Martin Sheen — have signed a letter opposing the terminal that says it "poses significant and potentially irreversible negative impacts to our coast, our environment and to the health and safety of our families…. "

A spokesman for BHP Billiton could not be reached for comment Sunday.

"The governor has not yet taken a position on any specific offshore natural gas terminal," said Darrel Ng, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is awaiting the outcome of various studies, Ng said, that put "each project through rigorous environmental and safety checks."

[Ace]

Photos courtesy of a photographer who seems to have a problem adapting to too much light. I darkened them up a bit but I can't do much with the overall chalkiness.

[Ace]

More photos from WENN.

Some smaller ones with no watermarks -- why bother with larger photos with watermarks over his face? Including a closeup of his sneakers that made me laugh.





Thumbnails below-- click for larger with watermarks.

[Ace]

Thumbnails to a couple of larger unwatermarked photos. The second comes from HereInMalibu at Flickr



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[Ace]

Article and streaming video at L.A.'s ABC7.com

Images from the entire event at Getty Images & WENN

Comprehensive article:

www.pchpress.com/local/lng10-22-06.html

[Ace]

PierceBrosnan.com has updated with about 50 photos from the LNG Paddle Out Protest.

www.piercebrosnan.com/ccpn-lng-album.htm