Environmentalists cheer pipeline vote

OXNARD, Calif. – An energy company was dealt a serious blow to its efforts to build a floating liquefied natural gas terminal off the Southern California coast when a state panel refused to grant a lease for pipelines essential to the project.

The 2-1 decision by the State Lands Commission late Monday was met with loud cheers by an estimated 900 people who packed an auditorium for the hearing. Many had spent the day rallying against the proposal and wore blue T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Terminate the Terminal.”


“We’re ecstatic,” said Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Network, which provided the shirts and helped organize the opponents. “This effectively kills it.”

Patrick Cassidy, a spokesman for the terminal backers, Australia’s BHP Billiton LNG International Inc., said the vote was disappointing but the company remains “committed to the process.”

AP