Coastal Conservation Association (CCA)

Capital Ideas
The National Side of Local

By Pat Murray
CCA Vice President & Director of Conservation
TIDE
Sept/Oct 2006

Speaker of the House Tip O’ Neill’s observation that “all politics are local” is a timeless political insight. But, we must also remember that for better or worse, Speaker O’Neill should have added that politics rarely stay local.

I believe the same is true in marine conservation. Good conservation almost always starts on a local level, but rarely stays there. It was true with the redfish wars of the 1970s that started in Texas and spread across the Gulf of Mexico. It was true with the freedom to fish fight spreading from the east coast all the way to the west and then back again. And, it has been at the root in the fight against open-loop LNG in the Gulf of Mexico the past two years.

It is hard to imagine any regular readers of TIDE are not overly familiar with what open-loop LNG refers to, but for the benefit of background, there are a few basics to know. CCA opposes regassification terminals that use “open rack” vaporization systems, also referred to as open-loop systems. These types of liquefied natural gas terminals receive imported liquefied gas and convert it back to a gaseous state by circulating seawater through a radiator-like system to reheat it. An open-loop system can filter more than 100 million gallons of seawater per day, then chlorinates it to prevent fouling in the intake pipe, creating the potential to kill billions of fish eggs, larvae and plankton annually. Clearly, these systems pose a threat to coastal marine resources.

As this issue really began to emerge, the local coastal communities of east Texas and south Louisiana were the first to energize. CCA’s state chapters in Texas and Louisiana began to collect information and insight, and this is where local became national. CCA’s national advocacy structure and Board system embraced the significance of the issue and began to work on a higher level of the resource management system. As the CCA states informed their Governors and state management agencies of the threat of open-loop LNG, the national organization worked the issue all the way to the White House, touching NOAA, CEQ, the Departments of Commerce and Transportation and every other pertinent governmental office.

The landscape of this issue has changed dramatically in the past two years. We have seen the Gulf of Mexico Marine Fishery Council, NOAA, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission and other key state and federal management bodies come out against open-loop technology. Three Gulf state Governors have vetoed or pledged to veto permits for these facilities, and the angling public is galvanized against the potential negative impact of open-loop LNG.

It is a very exciting evolution, but at the same time, a bit surprising. If you pull back from the details of the issue, you have to wonder how these facilities have run into the static and resistance they have, and then you simply remember that good conservation often starts locally but seldom stays local.

Just like so many other successful conservation campaigns, the broad structure of CCA allowed the issue to be addressed on all levels, local, state and national. Without an ability to impact the system on all levels, it is nearly impossible to make a difference in issues of this nature. Without a fulltime lobbyist in Washington DC, state lobbyists, state and national Government Affairs Committees, Gulf and Atlantic fisheries experts and the priceless expertise and political influence of the CCA volunteer network, it would simply be impossible. When you look at it closely, this issue was transformed by the most basic political weapons - a strong, well-developed grassroots system.

This issue is by no means resolved, and clearly, the desires of conservationists have not won the day. But, it does remind you that if a grassroots effort is founded on good conservation, even the most locally based initiative can have global significance.