Cabrillo Port would see Australian LNG being delivered to the offshore terminal, which would regassify the LNG and pipe the gas through an undersea pipeline. The port would be sited 14 miles from the shore.
Cabrillo and other LNG projects have the support of Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is keen to help “wean the state from oil and coal”, reports the LA Canyon news.
The recently released report says that the project “would not contribute significantly to a cumulative adverse effect on the region’s environment.”
But at first glance the draft environmental impact report – released by the California State Lands Commission, the US Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration – is contradicted by a 1977 study. So it has failed to convince the local city councils of Oxnard and Malibu, various environmental groups and a majority of local residents.
The California State Lands Commission said the 1977 study that had found an LNG accident would produce a 30-mile-wide blanket of flame was not applicable to the Cabrillo Port project, according to a report in the Malibu Times.
“What we did was we evaluated an absolute worst case scenario, which would be the loss of all three LNG tanks on the port. We calculated 1.6 miles as the maximum radius for public safety impacts,” California State Lands Commission’s Cy Oggins told the Malibu Times.
“I think people who cite the 30-mile wall of fire claim that physics haven’t changed, and of course we claim the same thing – physics haven’t changed; we’re just using a methodology specific to this project.”
But Malibu mayor pro tem Andy Stern was unconvinced.
“The only real way to mitigate disaster would be to stop the project altogether. I think it’s outrageous that they're trying this new technology that, to my knowledge, has never been proven,” Stern told the Malibu Times
“And I understand this EIR [environmental impact report] comes out and says well, it’s not a problem, but if it blows up, the people who wrote the EIR are going to be long gone. I don’t understand why they would take that risk, except for profit.”
Oxnard mayor Manual Lopez was less hostile but still wary.
“It is very critical to us in the coastal area. We’re really going to have to scrutinise [the EIR],” Lopez told the LA Canyon News.
Environmental campaigners opposing the BHP project include the Saviers Road Design Team, the Los Padres chapter of the Sierra Club and Oxnard consumer protection lawyer Tim Riley. They believe an LNG port should not be built close to populated areas and a leaked LNG gas cloud could ignite with dire consequences.
