Understanding the Conflicting Views on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Development Projects and Operations

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Energy Sciences, grade: NA, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (FASS), language: English, abstract: LNG development is currently amongst the most controversial projects around the world, strongly contested by opponents, generally consisting of environmental activists in communities where LNG operations are planned or on-going, who usually go to great lengths to present to dissuade governments from approving LNG projects, contrary to the views of LNG proponents. Because these conflicting views on the benefits and negative impacts of LNG continue to animate the debate, this paper is intended to examine salient issues of the debate for and against LNG, based on the views of both proponents and critics. The aim is to identify the major sources of the conflicting reactions and perceptions and propose sustainable solutions for a mutually beneficial and peaceful cohabitation of LNG with the biophysical and social environmental concerns of stakeholder communities.

Two [You have listed three points.] important points have been established:

- That critics of LNG have been vital drivers of innovation in the LNG sector, forcing LNG developers to continuously thrive to design new environmentally friendly technologies.

- That EIA, an invaluable component of all major projects has evolved greatly in the spatial sense, since its introduction in the USA in the 1960s, but its content and methods have changed little over this time. Thus it still dwells strictly on bio-physical and economic considerations, with limited emphasis on social impacts. This is based on the illusion that money can compensate for all other consequences, and especially true of the cases of LNG projects presented here. In most cases the social impacts considered have been limited to such aspects as employment, health, safety, livelihoods, leaving out important cultural, spiritual, relational, emotional or psychological issues; an ominous omission.

This paper concludes that by adopting the guidelines and principles for Social Impact Assessment (SIA), improving techniques of SIA and the inclusion of all major local stakeholders in all stages of LNG projects from planning to implementation (effective stakeholder participation) the rift between LNG development and community resistance could be significantly narrowed.