LNG proposals facing opposition along coast

The San Francisco Chronicle looks at the opposition to proposed liquefied natural gas proposals along California's coastline:

Meanwhile, coastal residents are battling any business or governmental entity that tries to put a terminal near their property. Leaking LNG can form a vapor cloud capable of igniting in a fireball. Last year's accidental explosion at an Algerian LNG plant, which killed 27, only stoked the opposition.

"Anywhere the letters 'L,' 'N' and 'G' are put together, there's always going to be an element in the community that will have the same reaction," said Kent Robertson, a spokesman for San Jose's Calpine Corp., which last year ditched plans for an LNG terminal on Humboldt Bay.

Of course, if residents in Orange County who cannot afford to keep their homes warm want a culprit, they can look to Malibu, where the NIMBY mentality brought out opposition to BHP Billiton's Cabrillo Port proposal last December. Those affected by Malibu NIMBYism can take solace, at least, in the fact that they'll oppose anything...from an LNG terminal to a summer camp for blind children.