Hollywood celebrities and surfers paddled off a Mailbu, CA, beach on Oct. 22, to protest plans for offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals off the Southern California coast as one of the proponents, Australia-based BHP Billiton moved closer to a final joint state/federal environmental impact assessment on the proposed Cabrillio Port terminal.

Celebrities making the surfing protest included Daryl Hannah, Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford, Dick Van Dyke, Ted Danson, Jane Seymour, along with a professional surfer, Laird Hamilton. They labeled their gathering near the Mailbu Pier a “Paddle Out Protest” and invited local television news crews.

The scale of the proposed facilities and safety concerns were raised by the protesters under the leadership of the California Coastal Protection Network. In a report in last Monday’s Los Angeles Times, the coastal protection group’s director said the protesters wanted to send Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a message: “terminate the terminal.” Susan Jordan, the group’s director, said her group was making the last attempt to stop the proposed offshore terminals that would be located 13 to 22 miles off the coast.

Three offshore LNG terminals have been proposed in the area. BHP’s project would be a floating LNG port located 14 miles from Leo Carrillo Beach, CA. Another proposal by NorthernStar Natural Gas would be located on an idled oil production platform, Platform Grace. And a third offshore project, OceanWay, proposed by Woodside Natural Gas Inc., would include two underwater buoys located 22 miles south of Point Dume.

A spokesperson for Schwarzenegger told the LA Times that the governor has not made up his mind on any specific offshore terminal project, and that each proposal would be put through “rigorous environmental and safety checks.”

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