LOS ANGELES, January 15, 2009 – With Santa Monica Baykeeper leading the charge, a local coalition of community organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens successfully placed enough pressure on Woodside Natural Gas Inc. forcing the company to stop pursuing a proposed LNG project.

“Woodside’s decision to stop trying to build an LNG deepwater port off our coast is great news for the environment and for all Los Angeles residents,” said Tom Ford, executive director of Santa Monica Baykeeper. “The project was never welcome in Santa Monica Bay and this is my version of a perfect ending, saying good-bye and good riddance.”

Woodside announced today that the company has suspended work on their proposed off-shore LNG project that would have imported LNG on massive tankers across the Pacific Ocean to a location twenty-seven miles off the coast of LAX.

“I’ve long said the Woodside LNG project posed serious environmental problems and made LAX a bigger security risk,” said Congresswoman Jane Harman.  “Perhaps there is a role for LNG as a transitional fuel, but our region already has access to adequate gas supplies to meet market demands. I'm glad that Woodside recognized the level of local concern over this project and am grateful to the elected officials and residents who made their opposition known.”

“The project posed unnecessary risks to communities, to the environment and to Californians,” said Diane Moss, a leading coalition member. “This is a victory for sustainable, renewable energy options. Now we can focus on investing in a greener future that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels.”

Rory Cox, California Program Director at Pacific Environment echoed this sentiment. “The City of Los Angeles is embarking on a revolutionary plan to develop solar energy. Yet this proposal has proven to be a huge distraction. With this dirty energy project out of the way, Los Angeles can focus on building a state of the art energy grid.”

Other local elected officials and organizations that opposed Woodside’s LNG project include former State Senator Sheila Kuehl, Assemblymember Julia Brownley, Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, the City of Santa Monica, the City of Malibu, the Sierra Club, Pacific Environment, Center for Biological Diversity and the Pacific Palisades Residents Association.

About Santa Monica Baykeeper

Founded in 1993, Santa Monica Baykeeper's mission is to protect and restore the Santa Monica Bay, San Pedro Bay and adjacent waters through enforcement, fieldwork, and community action. We work to achieve this goal through litigation and regulatory programs that ensure water quality protections in waterways throughout L.A. County. Santa Monica Baykeeper is a proud member of the California Coastkeeper Alliance and is one of more than 180 members of the international Waterkeeper Alliance, led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. As part of the Alliance, Santa Monica Baykeeper has been successfully protecting Los Angeles’ bay, beaches and waterways for more than 15 years. More information is available at www.smbaykeeper.org.

More information: Carolyn Kraft;  (213) 446-2632 or ckraft@smbaykeeper.org