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Currently, California derives about 40 percent of its electricity from natural gas power plants. In addition, natural gas is used in stoves and ovens, for heating, for fertilizer, for industrial uses, and in a limited number of fleets such as city buses. Nearly all of the natural gas in California comes from pipelines originating in North American gas fields.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a technology that compresses the volume of natural gas, making it possible to move it overseas. Natural gas would be drilled from far-off gas fields in places like Russia, Peru, Indonesia, and the Middle East, and then supercooled until it reaches liquid form in specialized “liquefaction” plants. After being chilled to -260 degrees Fahrenheit, the gas turns into a liquid that takes up a small fraction of the space as the gas. The LNG is then loaded onto a huge, specially designed tanker, and shipped thousands of miles to coastal terminals. Upon reaching its destination, the LNG is reprocessed to its original gaseous form at a regasification terminal.

Currently, there are no LNG terminals on the West Coast of North America, with one under construction on the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. However, there are about 12 LNG terminal proposals, from the Baja Peninsula to British Columbia, and many points in between. All of these projects will potentially serve the large California energy market. LNG, like all fossil fuels, has many environmental, health and safety impacts which are covered throughout this website. The California Energy Commission compiles all current information on LNG import terminals on the West Coast. Please click here for their site.