California Coastal Commission Liquefied Natural Gas Files (Collection of), 1970-1983, bulk 1977-1978

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Summary

Title:

California Coastal Commission Liquefied Natural Gas files

Dates:

1970-1983, bulk 1977-1978

Creators:

California Coastal Commission

Abstract:

The California Coastal Commission Liquefied Natural Gas files contain reports, correspondence, court records, newspaper clippings and miscellaneous files relating to liquefied natural gas (LNG) sites proposed by several public utility companies in 1972. The California Coastal Commission was created through the California Coastal Act to prevent the privatization of California's beaches through the regulation of land and water use in the coast. At the time of the LNG proposals the California Coastal Commission was the state authority for approving and permitting rights for LNG terminals.

Extent:

3.6 Linear Feet (9 boxes)

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

California Coastal Commission Liquefied Natural Gas files. MS-R140. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection comprises records assembled by the California Coastal Commission and associated with proposed LNG Terminal Site Projects in the 1970s. The bulk of this collection includes reports that were collected or created by the California Coastal Commission. Additionally the collection includes correspondence, LNG Terminal court records, miscellaneous LNG files, and LNG related newspaper clippings.

Biographical / historical:

The California Coastal Commission was established by voter initiative in 1972 to identify and prevent ecological and environmental dangers threatening California's coastal landscape and to protect coastal land from privatization. Since the California Legislature passed the California Coastal Act of 1976, the Coastal Commission has planned and regulated the use of land and water in the coastal zone through reviews of local and federal government programs and activities.

In the late 1960s, declining domestic natural gas reserves resulting from federal price controls on interstate gas led some U.S. utility firms to explore Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports as an alternative source of natural gas. Western LNG Terminal Company, Pacific Gas and Electric, and El Paso Natural Gas Company proposed to build and employ LNG import facilities at multiple California coastal sites in 1972. The Port of Los Angeles, Oxnard, and Point Conception were first identified as prospective LNG Terminal sites; however, the three state agencies involved with siting authority: the California Coastal Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and the California Energy Commission were unable to approve the sites because of conflicts of interest stemming from environmental and safety concerns of the Coastal Commission.

The LNG Terminal Siting Act of 1977 was passed by California legislature to prevent a stalemate and increase the likelihood of site approval allowing for permitting of proposed LNG Terminal sites. The new law gave state siting authority for the project to CPUC, while simultaneously acknowledging environmental concerns by granting the Coastal Commission the task of identifying and ranking proposed sites that would mitigate environmental damage. The Coastal Commission initially evaluated 82 sites, and found only four met the strict population density standards and other protective criteria that they had established regarding wind and wave conditions, earthquake hazards, and soil conditions. Of these four, the Point Conception site was conditionally approved by the CPUC despite concerns about minimal seismic risks in the area.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (formerly the FCP) also granted conditional approval of the Point Conception site. However, project opponents appealed FERC's approval, and the Federal courts remanded the case back to FERC for reconsideration of seismic risk factors. Although the Point Conception site eventually regained conditional approval from FERC in 1983, the project was ultimately abandoned. The utility companies were forced to acknowledge that the project was no longer economically viable after Congress passed the Natural Gas Policy in 1978, which lifted price controls on domestic natural gas discovered after 1977 and diminished the cost of domestic LNG.

Chronology
Date	Event
1972	Several public utilities announce plans to import LNG
1972	The California Coastal Commission established by voter initiative
1976	California Legislature adopts the California Coastal Act and makes permanent the California Coastal Commission as we know it today
1977	California Legislation passes the LNG Terminal Siting Act of 1977
1978	U.S. Congress passes Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978
1983	FERC gives conditional approval to the Point Conception LNG Project site

Acquisition information:

Transferred from the UCI Libraries Government Documents Division, date unknown.

Processing information:

Processed by Joanna Lamb, 2008.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in alphabetical order by material type.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Bibliography:

California Coastal Commission. California coastal commission home page. Available from http://www.coastal.ca.gov/ (accessed December 10, 1978). California Energy Commission, and Mignon Marks. 2003. Liquefied natural gas in California: History, risks, and siting. http://www.energy.ca.gov/reports/2003-07-17_700-03-005.PDF (accessed December 10, 2008). National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. 2005. The need for effective and forthright communication planning for LNG siting: A checklist for state public utility commissions. http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/oilgas/publications/lng/LNG_NARUC_communication_lngfacsiting.pdf (accessed December 15, 2008). Weems, Phillip R., and Kevin D. Keenan. 2002. Greenfield LNG import terminal approvals. LNG Journal (May-June 2002), http://www.kslaw.com/library/pdf/GreenfieldLNGTerminals.pdf (accessed December 16, 2008).

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Coastal zone management -- California -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Liquefied natural gas -- California -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Names:: California Coastal Commission -- Archives

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Processed by Joanna Lamb;machine-readable finding aid created by Joanna Lamb
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2020-08-27 16:13:48 UTC .

Access and use

Restrictions:: The collection is open for research.
Terms of access:: Property rights reside with the University of California. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.