LNG still waits for the A-OK

Reading the writing on the wall, ConocoPhillips has withdrawn its application to build a liquefied natural gas terminal off Mobile Bay before Gov. Bob Riley could carry through with a promised veto. The company will look into the potential of replacing the "open-loop" gas reheating system, which annually would have used billions of gallons of Gulf of Mexico seawater, with "closed-loop" technology friendlier to the Gulf Coast ecosystem.