Scientific Expert: Environmentalists, NIMBYs block energy solutions

Michael Fumento, an expert from the Hudson Institute, takes a look at LNG as a clean energy solution for California, and cites environmentalists and NIMBY's as the technology's greatest enemies:

Environmental activists hate all affordable forms of energy, no matter how clean, because it's the lifeblood of industry. To them, Saddam Hussein may be bad but industry is absolutely evil. Although not building a terminal "would be a recipe for unacceptable economic hardship for those who can least afford it," according to two true top-ranking California environmentalists in a recent op-ed, the activists in green paint couldn't care less.

There are also the NIMBY groups, who recognize California's need for a terminal but Not in My Back Yard. They don't want any new industry near them that is heavier than, say, flower arrangement.

But such ideas can't be sold to the broader public, so other reasons are concocted.

Fumento also examines four of the leading terminal proposals and examines each's strengths and weaknesses.