Recently, Liberty Natural Gas COO Jason Goldstein announced Liberty will donate $7,500 to the FoodBank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties for the second consecutive year. The money will go to support the FoodBank’s National Hunger Action Month initiative, a month long effort to rally the public to help feed the more than 36 million Americans who live in “food insecure” households.

Jason Goldstein also made a contribution of more than 600lbs of food donated by Liberty employees to help stock the shelves at the FoodBank. The FoodBank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties helps provide emergency food assistance to more than 70,000 people each year.

Recognizing our important role in the community, Liberty Natural Gas was proud to sponsor the food paring and wine tasting reception for the 63rd Annual Red Grant Regatta at the Raritan Yacht Club in Perth Amboy on July 17th - 19th. The event, presented by the Jersey Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross, gave participants of the Mayor’s Cup Cruiser’s Race the opportunity to support a great regatta for a great cause, while a junior regatta included over 60 area junior sailors competing off the Perth Amboy shoreline. Proceeds from the silent auction and Mayor’s Cup benefited the Red Cross which, as the world’s largest humanitarian organization, provides relief to thousands of New Jersey residents and millions of people around the world.

The Jersey Shore Running Club, who partners with Liberty Natural Gas to sponsor the Fall Liberty Natural Gas Boardwalk Relay, is seeking a grant from Nike for an Asbury Park Youth Running Program. The program is designed to give children an opportunity to exercise outdoors, promote healthy living, and organize with other youth who enjoy running.

Cast your vote here to support the Asbury Park Youth Running Program and make a difference in the lives of many children.

A port for LNG importation utilizing similar technology to ours was recently commissioned 13 miles off Boston. The Northeast Gateway commissioning is an important step in the process and represents another demonstration of the innovative technology being deployed for that project and ours. Congratulations to the Northeast team on this milestone!

The Two River Times attended our legislative briefing last week and wrote an informative, balanced article about the briefing and our project. Below are a few highlights:

Earlier this year Liberty launched a massive public information campaign to address concerns over LNG and for the public to meet with representatives by setting up a community information center on Main Street in Asbury Park.

“There is no storage, no barge, and no island,” said Jason Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer of Liberty Natural Gas. “We want to be crystal clear why we are the project of choice. We want to make sure everybody knows the facts and is comfortable with what we are doing and comfortable with who we are.”

Goldstein also noted that the project would not require public funding, as it would be built with $750 million from private infrastructure investment.

The project would also create over 250 construction jobs with approximately $600 million in construction contracts.

You can also read the piece in its entirety.

Here’s a story from News12 about the Liberty Natural Gas project and a series of legislative briefings recently held in Trenton.

We want to let you know about an important briefing next week, Liquefied Natural Gas and the Future of Energy in New Jersey, scheduled for Monday, January 26 at the State House in Trenton.

With families in New Jersey facing escalating energy costs and government mandates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is crucial that we address the Garden State’s energy crisis with solutions such as abundant, clean-burning natural gas. The project proposed by Liberty Natural gas will bring lower energy costs, cleaner air and job opportunities to residents across New Jersey.

What: Liquefied Natural Gas & the Future of Energy in New Jersey briefing

When: Monday, January 26, 2009; Briefings scheduled for 10am and 2pm

Where: State House, Room 209, 125 W. State Street, Trenton

The Center for Liquefied Natural Gas recently released an educational video about LNG. You’ll be seeing it on many public television stations in the coming weeks. The video is below.

Spotlight On LNG from Center for Liquefied Natural Gas on Vimeo.

In a promising move for clean air in urban and suburban areas, a growing number of public transportation fleets are using natural gas to power their vehicles. In El Paso, Texas and neighboring New Mexico communities, 144 buses on the Sun Metro system use liquefied natural gas as the source of their fuel. The LNG is used to directly fuel certain buses, and converted to compress natural gas (CNG) to power the remainder of the fleet. Officials are planning to expand the clean fleet to 227 natural gas buses within 10 years. That will make commuters, neighbors and children in the area breathe a little easier.

Here’s a short article on the growing use of natural gas as fuel for automobiles. Natural gas-powered fleets are a reality across much of the western United States. These fleets, along with the increasing number of consumer autos fueled by natural gas, are saving tax dollars, improving air quality and reducing our dependence on oil from the Middle East.