Reply #5: And energy policy when they want to pollute California [View All]

Just read this in my LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lng3dec03,0,6500996.story?coll=la-home-nation

Congress Fuels Fire Between FERC, States

By Richard Simon, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — State officials from California to Rhode Island are fuming over a provision, slipped into the massive year-end spending bill expected to clear Congress next week, that says federal regulators should decide where liquefied natural gas terminals are built.

Many lawmakers say they didn't know about the provision when they voted for the voluminous bill last month.






But state regulators know about it — and they don't like it. They said it could make it harder for them to block facilities that could harm the environment or pose safety and security risks.

The provision seems to leave the Republican-controlled Congress leaning against its natural tendency to support states' rights. But the language reflects the determination of President Bush and his congressional allies to increase energy supplies, especially in the face of predicted increases in natural gas prices.

California appears to be the target of the provision. The state has gone to court challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's claim that it has sole authority to decide whether an LNG facility will be built in Long Beach. The facility would receive imported natural gas that had been cooled to a liquid so that it could be transported by ship rather than pipeline.