As environmentalists cheered a state agency's rejection of its project, Australian energy giant BHP Billiton was left scrambling Tuesday for a way to salvage its plans to build an $800-million natural gas processing plant off the Ventura County coast.
The state Lands Commission's decision late Monday night dealt the project a potentially fatal blow, denying the energy company permission to construct a pair of pipelines to move natural gas onshore in Oxnard from its terminal 14 miles off the Ventura and Los Angeles county border.
"We're disappointed in the decisions by the state Lands Commission," said Renee Klimczak, president of BHP Billiton LNG International Inc. "We're evaluating our options and next steps."
The commission, in a 2-1 decision split along partisan lines, voted against the project after an all-day public hearing in Oxnard that drew more than 2,000 people, from Oxnard homemakers and environmental activists to actor and Malibu resident Pierce Brosnan.
Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and State Controller John Chiang, who sit on the commission, voted against the project after they concluded that its environmental impact report was seriously flawed and that California did not need a liquefied natural gas terminal. The crowd responded with cheers.
"The significant and unmitigated environmental impacts this project could have on California's environment and its residents outweigh any economic benefit it might generate," Garamendi said.
Paul D. Thayer, executive officer for the California State Lands Commission, said BHP Billiton has few options to overturn the decision.
"They will have to go to court," Thayer said. "Or, theoretically, they could change the project, but that would be difficult and probably involve a whole new process. There is no administrative remedy and no appeal available."
Under the law, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has until May 21 to decide on the project, though he cannot overturn the commission's decisions or those by other state agencies. The governor has not officially endorsed the BHP Billiton project, but his delegate on the state Lands Commission cast the one favorable vote.
Schwarzenegger has expressed strong support for a liquefied natural gas terminal for California and he has in the past expressed a "personal preference" for the BHP Billiton project.
