Firm applies to build gas plant
presstelegram.com
Article Published: Thursday, January 15, 2004 - 6:15:12 PM PST
LNG terminal at port sought; Sierra Club upset.
By Felix Sanchez
Staff writer
A formal application to build a $400 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Port of Long Beach will be filed next week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the port, announced executives with the firm seeking to build it.
Sound Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp., says the LNG terminal will take cooled liquefied natural fuel delivered by tanker to the facility and heat it into gas for delivery by pipeline to power plants and fuel suppliers.
The plant will fill about 10 percent of the daily demand in California, Sound Energy Solutions officials said.
It would be the first of its kind on the West Coast.
But some environmental groups question the safety and viability of a liquefied natural gas plant.
Members of the Sierra Club's Harbor Vision Task Force say LNG is a dying energy source and the proposed port location is too close to neighborhoods.
The task force is hosting several public meetings, including one tonight at 7 at Unitarian Universalist Church, 5450 Atherton, in Long Beach.
The terminal would be built on 27 acres at Pier T.
Port Executive Director Richard Steinke has said the terminal will help lower natural gas prices, and the fuel would be used to convert port vehicles and vessels to LNG from pollution-producing diesel.
Liquefied natural gas is a clear, odorless and nontoxic liquid. It occurs when natural gas is cooled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. It condenses into a liquid that occupies roughly 1/600th the space it would occupy as a vapor.
Proponents say LNG is environmentally friendly because it evaporates, doesn't absorb into the ground, and can be shipped easily.
Thomas E. Giles, executive vice president and CEO of Sound Energy Solutions in Long Beach, said his company's goal is to have a safe facility, and not just because regulations require it.
If approved, construction could begin by year's end. |
