Over half of all American homes rely on natural gas for heating. But the major and growing demand for natural gas in the U.S. comes from industries and, significantly, electric power generators looking for alternatives to near-depleted petroleum supplies.
While most of the natural gas consumed today is produced domestically, both cost and long-term considerations have led to increased imports of natural gas, mostly from Canada.
A relatively new, more effective and cheaper way to import this energy source is via Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). When natural gas is cooled below -260 degrees Fahrenheit it becomes a liquid and shrinks down to 1/600th of its original volume. Not only is LNG easier to ship, it’s also easier to store, making it particularly useful as a reserve in times of peak demand — like Winter cold snaps or disruptions in alternate energy supplies.
While LNG is mostly imported on the East Coast from Trinidad and Tobago, Qatar, and Algeria, California is now poised to become a primary receiving and distribution market on the West Coast for LNG imports from Australia and Indonesia.
Two LNG terminals are being proposed in California — one at the Port of Long Beach and a second off the coast of Oxnard in Ventura County.
Critics of the proposed facilities cite the possible threat of a catastrophic explosion, the inevitable increase in pollution and the opportunity costs of investing in another non-renewable energy resource. Still other detractors are concerned that these new LNG terminals, the first in California, would be developed at an undue cost to taxpayers and consumers.
In the following report, California Connected takes a look at the key players and concerns that are fueling this unfolding drama about the future of our state and national energy strategy.
- “Natural gas bills expected to rise 71%, PG&E says, KATRINA & RITA: Utility blames hurricanes for enormous jump in home heating costs,” San Francisco Chronicle
- Late-breaking: Friday afternoon, October 7th, 2005: U.S. Senators engage in verbal taunts over vote on “Gasoline for America’s Security Act of 2005,” C-Span, via the liberal foundationThink Progress.
- U.S. LNG Markets and Uses: June 2004, Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy (PDF)
- Natural Gas Supply, NaturalGas.org, produced by The Natural Gas Supply Association, “representing the American domestic natural gas industry.”
- What’s Up with Natural Gas Prices & Supply?, American Gas Association
- Liquefied Natural Gas In California: History, Risks, and Siting, Staff White Paper produced by the California Energy Commission (PDF)
- BHP Billiton Cabrillo Port, promotional web site for a “floating, liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving facility located…14 miles offshore of Ventura County.” Includes an Environmental Impact Report and a section titled “California Needs LNG.”
- “The upside out of sight,” OilOnline.com, “The fact that California is on the brink of an energy crisis and has long been a staunch opponent of energy development puts the state on the horns of a dilemma from which one company sees a big upside…Marshall DeLuca talks to BHP Billiton about its recently announced initiative to supply energy-deprived California with LNG from an offshore facility.”
- Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) threatens California’s coastal communities, Sierra Club, environmental activist group, claims LNG facilities would be “a prime target for terrorist attacks,” “pollute our environment, contribute to global warming and pose grave threats to coastal communities.” A slideshow of an accident at an LNG plant in Nigeria is offered in lieu of academic studies.
- LNG Safety & Security, Primer on Liquefied Natural Gas, Office of Fossil Energy, Department of Energy
- Evaluation of Liquefied Natural Gas Receiving Terminals for Southern California, Masters of Environmental Science & Management, Class of 2004, Group Project Brief, UC Santa Barbara (PDF)
- LNG Watch, Ratepayers for Affordable Clean Energy, advocacy group “concerned with the State of California’s rush to sign the state up to long-term contracts for Liquefied Natural Gas” and “dedicated to a future of clean energy and a reduction of fossil fuel use in California.”
- Liquefied Natural Gas, Office of Fossil Energy, Department of Energy, begins with the quote: “I strongly support developing new LNG capacity in the United States.” President George W. Bush, Excerpt from interview, American Gas Magazine
- “LNG terminal plans proliferate in Baja California,” The Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies,
- “Greenpeace critical of Sempra plans for Mexico,” The Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, concludes with the following quote from a San Diego, California-based environmental activist: “Building Mexican power plants might allow us to close some dirty power plants on this side of the border.”
- United States Country Analysis Brief and Natural Gas Analysis, Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy
- The Global Liquefied Natural Gas Market: Status and Outlook, Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy
- Integrated Energy Policy Reports, 2003-2005, California Energy Commission