Send LNG Bill SB 412 to the Assembly Floor

• The Publisher’s Notebook •

BY ANNE SOBLE

The first alert went out to the environmental community last Thursday. The drums sounded the message that SB 412, State Senator Joe Simitian’s LNG Market Assessment Act, is in trouble. The measure’s being “held” in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. What this means to non-politicos is the bill is dead unless it is released from the committee and sent to the Assembly for a floor vote. SB 412 would require the state to do a “Liquefied Natural Gas Needs Assessment” before approving an LNG terminal in California. It also clarifies that the California Environmental Quality Act requires a strong alternative technology analysis so that if there is approval of an LNG facility for the state, it will be “the safest design with the fewest impacts.” SB 412 has the support of more than two dozen major environmental organizations, is a top priority of the state’s green movement, and even has the support of Woodside and NorthernStar, two companies with active applications to build LNG projects in California. After BHP Billiton Cabrillo Port’s resounding defeat, the pair climbed on the 412 bandwagon, however reluctantly.

Simitian told The News by phone on Tuesday that “the bill is dead for this year...and goes back to square one, if it doesn’t get voted on,” which would mean the LNG projects now on the horizon would be free-standing competitors in a who-can-get-a-project-OK-first race that ignores public needs and comparative merits. The measure is expected to pass if it goes to the full Assembly for a vote. So what’s wrong with this picture? Why is SB 412 being stymied by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, a Democrat, as is Simitian, and a self-professed environmentalist? Some possible suspicions are the influence of contributions from energy firms who don’t want to compete on comparative merits, pressure from unions who buy into the fallacy of more jobs for their ranks (including those they expected from a project that has been effectively killed by the City of Long Beach) and fossil fuel energistas who benefit from holding the state’s policies hostage. Simitian said the public has until Sept. 11 to convince Núñez to send the measure to a floor vote. The Speaker can be telephoned at 213-620-4646, or 916-319-2046. His email address is: assemblymember.nunez@asm.ca. gov. It’s not just polemics when the senator says, “If SB 412 is not passed this year, it means chaos off the coast on this issue for the next decade.” The two active LNG projects, and others that may be on the drawing board, make action imperative now.