Arnold Having Second Thoughts on LNG

It appears that Arnold is having second thoughts about supporting LNG in California. I don't get the pool reports, but it seems likely that Arnold was questioning LNG at the same time as I was writing my piece lambasting him for his inconsistencies on the environment. He raised some good points during his meeting with DiFi yesterday afternoon.

Arnold wants to have LNG "on the table", but expressed his concern that actually producing and transporting it would actually increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel and powers 40 percent of the state's electricity, but still is a major emitter of greenhouse gases. Under the latest plan, the natural gas would be tapped in Australia, shipped in liquid form in tankers across the Pacific Ocean, and reheated into a gas in California.

It was intriguing Wednesday that the governor seemed to making the environmentalists' case for shooting down the project.

"I have not really seen all the studies," Schwarzenegger said, noting that several agencies are reviewing the project. "Everyone is going to look at it very carefully, because you can, on the one side, save a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions. At the other side, to transport it from Australia over to California on two ships a week, that could be increasing the amount of greenhouse gases because of the shipping."

Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Project, which opposes the Ventura County project, said she was heartened to hear the governor's comments.

"This is probably the most nuanced and intelligent interpretation of LNG that the governor has given to date," Jordan said. "He's becoming educated on what LNG means in terms of global climate change from extraction through combustion. I think that's a very important sign from the governor."

It is a shame that the governor did not take the time to be more educated on the subject, prior to having his administration's official go down south to vote in favor of the LNG terminal. But I digress... Hopefully, Arnold will hit the books and come out green. One can always dream.