Publisher’s Notebook: LNG Showtime-Plus

BY ANNE SOBLE

For the three years that the controversial Cabrillo Port liquefied natural gas floating terminal has been in the media spotlight, it has been scrutinized from nearly every perspective. This attention will have only achieved its journalistic objective if citizens have been given what they need to form meaningful opinions about the value of the project to them as individuals, to their communities and to all the other residents of the state. The time for study has now given way to the time for action. If citizens do nothing, a corporate juggernaut funded by the world’s largest mining conglomerate will sail unrestricted through lobbyist-cleared waters to what could be a four-decade-long chokehold on the local horizon and a dominant role in California’s energy policy that might make the behind-the-scenes game plans at Enron look like child’s play. Malibu was able to stop a nuclear reactor at Corral Canyon. It prevented a freeway plan from bulldozing the ridgelines along the coast. This time the battle is at sea. Malibu and its neighbors have to dive head first into the water and try to achieve their objectives politically, instead of waiting for a long and costly court fight.

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Speaking of the courts, many Malibu equestrians cheer the federal court order that may mark the end of the wanton killing of horses and the shipping of horsemeat overseas for human consumption. Equine slaughterhouses in the United States are now shuttered. A U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge ruled last week that it was illegal for horse slaughterhouses to pay the U.S. Department of Agriculture to cover the costs of their health inspections—another White House subterfuge to sustain a special interest policy that was opposed by the public. A bipartisan bill passed the House of Representatives 263-146 last fall, but Congress adjourned before the Senate considered it. The bill was reintroduced this winter. Pending further legal action, the matter may now be resolved.

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Wildlife sightings are becoming more frequent in the greater Malibu area as record dry weather means more animals have to alter their behavior patterns in search of water. Rattlesnake sightings are also extremely high. Living in a wilderness interface area mandates a keen awareness of one’s surroundings. Coexistence is worth the extra attentiveness that is required.