Oxnard evenly split on LNG Plan

Opponents of building a liquefied natural gas terminal in Oxnard, CA, have certainly been the most inflammatory, but their numbers were fairly evenly matched by supporters at a public hearing on the BHP Billiton Cabrillo Port EIS/EIR last night, according to the LA Times:

Several speakers alluded to a 1977 study of a proposed LNG facility on Oxnard's shoreline. That study envisioned an accident producing a 60-mile-wide cloud of flame, but on Tuesday, a scientist associated with BHP contended the study was invalid.

It "should be relegated to history and not be used for modern decision-making or to influence public opinion," said physicist Ron Koopman, adding that scientific models available in 1977 were "very primitive by today's standards."

Koopman also said that the experts whose research formed the core of the 1977 study have expressed concern about "the misuse" of their work.

At a hearing in March, only a handful of people had anything good to say about the BHP project, which has been opposed by the city councils in Oxnard and Malibu. On Tuesday, however, a number of speakers said they welcomed it as a relatively safe and inexpensive way to secure much-needed energy for California.

The explosive revelations about the 1977 "study" undercut the premise behind local activist Tim Riley's "documentary" about LNG.