Senators push for more state authority over LNG permits (Teddy , DiFi and JF'nK)

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 6/9/05 | Lolita C. Baldor - AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators from coastal states will try to block development of liquefied natural gas terminals, like one proposed for Long Beach, Calif., by increasing state authority over the permitting process, lawmakers said Thursday.

Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry, both D-Mass., said it will be a tough fight, but they are gathering support for an amendment to the energy bill, which the Senate will begin debating next week.

Their amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would require LNG developers to get state approval before they file an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It would give states one year to act, and it would require that any current application being considered by FERC go back through the state approval process.

The senators' proposal runs counter to current language in the energy bill that gives FERC greater authority in LNG sitings.

Feinstein, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other officials in coastal states where LNG terminals are pending oppose that language.

There are four LNG import terminals now operating, but more than 40 proposals have been put forward. Most energy experts believe a dozen or more new LNG import plants will be built over the next decade as the demand grows for imported natural gas.

Several proposed sites in the Northeast and California, including one at the Long Beach port, have been the focus of heated local debate because they are being considered for populated areas or in environmentally sensitive locations. The worry is that the terminals or LNG transport tankers might be targets of terrorists.

[NormsRevenge]

And you all thought the energy bill was in the tank. ;-)

[kittymyrib]

Cut off all oil and natural gas shipments to the Northeast. Let them freeze in the dark next winter.

[DTogo]

For Kerry and Kennedy this has nothing to do with LNG in California, but EVERYTHING to do with offshore wind farms near Nantucket!

Hypocritical Limousine Liberals!!

[mmercier]

>> WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators from coastal states will try to block development of liquefied natural gas terminals, like one proposed for Long Beach, Calif., by increasing state authority over the permitting process, lawmakers said Thursday.

That should say "Democrat" Senators. The two K's in the senate from Massachusetts intend to kill two proposed LNG transfer facilities off our coast.

The fat man also wants to kill off the Cape Wind proposal off Nantucket, and will likely win out with a little help from his friends. In rat land we need not bother polluting the world with necessary, or alternate energy facilities.

These people are lunatics wielding power. If they get their way the mass of those whom they consider peasants in this country will be heating their supper in the dark over a twig fire. They may yet get their way too.

[Gator113]

Well, I have more than had it with these communist freaks.

I think that there should be a boycott of the entire State of Mass until those folks votes these dimwits out of office.

[popdonnelly]

The game works this way. Democrats get LNG developers to go to the States for licensing. The environmental groups, which contribute big time to Democratic candidates, have much more clout on the State level. So they work to keep the licensing process bottled up for years and years, hoping that the developers will give up. This is a game played by the environmentalists and their Democrat friends with every potential energy source they want to stop. They would rather rant about SUVs, demonstrating their irrational view of reality.