I'm following this with considerable interest, since I spent many months working on various air-quality aspects of the project:
The State Lands Commission decided late Monday not to award a lease essential to a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal off the Southern California coast, citing environmental concerns.
In the 2-1 vote, commissioners complicated efforts by Australia's BHP Billiton LNG International Inc. to build an $800 million terminal in the ocean northwest of Los Angeles, about 14 miles off Malibu and about 20 miles off Oxnard. BHP officials have said the facility would provide a reliable source of low-polluting energy.
...Commission Chairman John Garamendi, who is also the lieutenant governor, also voted against awarding the lease permit, while panelist Anne Sheehan, who represents state Finance Director Michael Genest, voted for it.
The decision was met with loud cheers by the estimated 900 people who packed the Oxnard convention center auditorium for Monday's commission hearing.
...Opponents have argued the terminal would not meet clean air requirements and could be a terrorist target. A host of celebrities who live in Malibu, including Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry, have protested the proposal.
The plan called for subsea pipelines, which would be laid about 100 feet apart, be about 23 miles long but cross only about 4 1/2 miles of state land before reaching Ormond Beach in Ventura County.
The 30-year lease considered by the three-member State Lands Commission would have granted BHP the right to build, operate, use and maintain the pipelines. Without the subsea pipelines, the terminal would essentially be inoperable. As a result, the commission's vote technically killed the project, although BHP could file a lawsuit to keep it alive.
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