Press Release

Link to AAEA Blog Coverage of Malibu Pier Press Conference

Environmental Organization Supports Malibu LNG Project

The African American Environmentalist Association (AAEA) supports the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas Deepwater Port (LNG Project) BHP Billiton. Industrial projects such as this one end up in minority communities because elites have the power to keep them out of their neighborhoods, even if they are out of sight 14 miles off the coast of California.

Celebrity opponents of the project 14 miles off the coast of Malibu did not oppose the LNG facility proposed near a black community in Long Beach, but now they oppose an LNG project in their own backyard. They are trying to retroactively oppose all LNG projects now. According to AAEA President Norris McDonald, “The soft environmental injustice of celebrity NIMBYism will push these industrial projects into minority communities.” The Cabrillo Project is important for California energy independence.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger should approve this project for the good of California. This project will help California to meet its energy needs and maintain energy independence. California needs to prevent the price shocks from energy imports and reduce the possibilities of blackouts that have occurred in the past. Natural gas is also the cleanest of the fossil fuels and will help in reducing global warming. There are currently four LNG facilities operating in the U.S. There are 60 approved, proposed and potential LNG terminal sites in North America.

According to Zenobia Jamerson, AAEA L.A. Office Director, “Celebrities should be willing to accept their fair share of industrial projects for the common good, particularly when the projects are out of sight and 14 miles away out in the Pacific Ocean.” Minority communities are already exposed to a disproportionate amount of pollution from industrial facilities and toxic waste sites. This project might also provide ownership possibilities for Latino entrepreneurs in Oxnard, California, site of the proposed onshore pipeline.

AAEA, founded in 1985, is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the environment, promoting the efficient use of natural resources, enhancing human, animal and plant ecologies and increasing African American participation in the environmental movement. AAEA is dedicated to delivering information and services directly into the black community, cleaning up neighborhoods by implementing toxics education, energy, water and clean air programs, including an African American point of view in environmental policy decision-making, and resolving environmental racism and injustice issues through the application of practical environmental solutions.