MALIBU, CA - California State Treasurer and Democratic nominee for Governor Phil Angelides, joined by environmental leaders and local elected officials, today announced his opposition to the planned BHP Billiton Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility off the Malibu/Oxnard coast. The proposed LNG terminal, which is backed by President Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger, would be 14 stories high, the length of three football fields, and would receive and store LNG, a highly flammable gas, from huge LNG tankers that would arrive at least two to three times a week from overseas.
"As California's governor, I will veto this Bush-Schwarzenegger LNG terminal," said Angelides. "I will not allow our coastline to be tarnished. I will not put our health, and our children's health, at risk. And I will not allow this plant, a sitting duck for a terrorist attack, to be located just off our shores."
Angelides, who is supported by the Sierra Club, California League of Conservation Voters, Vote the Coast, and countless other environmental organizations and leaders, has unveiled his own plan, Coast Guard, to reverse the policies of Schwarzenegger and Bush, renewing California's historic commitment to coastal and ocean protection.
The Angelides coastal protection plan will fight the unprecedented drive by President Bush and the Republican Congress to despoil the California coast with renewed oil and gas drilling that bi-partisan votes have banned for twenty-five years. And it will reverse the policy of coastal neglect by Governor Schwarzenegger, whose actual record reveals that his "green" photo-ops and enviro-friendly rhetoric are as hollow as a Hollywood backdrop.
The Angelides Coast Guard Plan will:
- Launch a comprehensive program to identify, purchase, and protect key undeveloped portions of the coast.
- Fight for a permanent federal ban on oil and gas drilling off the California coast.
- Require comprehensive state planning before approval of any liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals and desalination plants on the coast.
- Restore funding for the Coastal Commission and other coastal protection agencies that have been cut under Schwarzenegger's watch.
- Reduce coastal pollution and beach closures from sewage and runoff.
- Require lobbyists to register and disclose their contacts with the Coastal Commission.
"The Pacific coastline is California's most precious natural asset," said Angelides. "California deserves a leader who cares more about preserving our coast and protecting our families than collecting checks from Big Oil backers."
To read more about Angelides' plan to protect California's coastline, or the Bush-Schwarzenegger environmental record, visit: http://www.angelides.com/issues/environment/
