Jerry Brown Becomes an LNG Casualty

Capitol Weekly reports that things are heating up in the "hot gas" lawsuit brought by AQMD. Environmental interests are not happy that new AG Jerry Brown failed to file an amicus brief in the action and are raising suspicicions that the LNG industry might have gotten to him.

Now it is absolutely no secret that I'm for LNG, but I have said repeatedly that the issue of LNG imports should be decided the same way every other public policy issue is decided: through a thorough public evaluation. If state regulators decide to kill the idea, so be it.

AQMD had every right to file the lawsuit and it will have its day in court. But how do you throw Jerry Brown under the bus for not filing a brief? The guy is an anti-establishment icon who has spent a lifetime championing liberal causes. He's been on the job for a month...let him get settled in!

Similarly, the blogosphere has been going crazy on Robert Kennedy for writing a pro-LNG editorial. The man's environmental (and liberal, political) credentials are beyond reproach-- I find it hard to believe he's been corrupted by monied industrial interests.

As Dan Walters's piece in the Bee yesterday reminds us, the energy situation in California is a mess. We're hurtling toward a renewable mandate we probably won't be able to meet while our population continues to grow. We need energy solutions and that requires that we consider all the options.

So let's see where the lawsuits and the hearings come out, but in the interim, let's not beat up public officials for things they didn't do, after all, if history is any guide, these folks will repeately make decisions and do things that will give us plenty of legitmate fodder for criticism.

Is 'hot gas' rift developing between enviros, Brown? [Capitol Weekly]