There's not really much I agree with McCain on, but his "all the above" energy strategy is something that I believe is right.  McCain is a realist in the sense that he recognizes that our energy problems cannot be solved simply by converting to "green energy sources" tomorrow or even during his prospective term(s). Obama understands this too, but he just doesn't talk about it as much.

The simple fact of the matter is that the earth will be out of oil in the next 30 years.  In case you are unaware of the actual math behind this statement, consider this: 

When the "global oil fiesta" began in 1860 or so, the earth stored about 2 trillion barrels beneath its surface.  Since then, we've consumed about a trillion of them, leaving us about halfway through the earth's total initial reserves.  Over this period of time, we have consumed oil at a constantly increasing rate - from a few hundred barrels in year one to over 31 billion barrels last year.  This means that even if we held this current rate of consumption (which is highly unlikely given China's growth trend alone) and even if we could pump every last drop out of the earth's crust (which we can't), we will be done with oil by the time my kids are my age.

Of course, all energy comes from the sun.  Solar energy grows trees and plants, and produces rain, snowfall, wind and tides.   In any given period of time, the sun gives the earth a finite amount of energy to work with.  This is sometimes referred to as the solar carrying capacity of the earth.

Until the industrial revolution, human energy consumption never exceeded the solar carrying capacity of the earth.  Neither our pre-1800s lifestyles, nor our pre-1800s population demanded more.  In fact, for hundreds of millions of years up until the industrial revolution, all surplus solar energy was concentrated and stored in the earth's crust in the form of fossil fuels - coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, plutonium, etc.

Our way of life today completely depends on these fossil fuel reserves, which represent millions of years of saved solar energy.  Without this one-time energy source, none of our way of life would be possible - from our car-dependent suburbs, to our agri-business food production, to our oil-based distribution network upon which our global economy operates.  The seeming abundance of this energy source has also led to a population explosion around the world which demands ever-increasing amounts of energy.

We humans are addicted to oil and we must cure our addiction.  But it won’t happen cold turkey.  We must do everything we can to cut down on our energy usage - primarily through learning how to live more densely, and learning how to subsist off a more localized economy.  These will be difficult changes to make, but eventually we will have no choice.

Unfortunately, I believe that our under-preparedness for (and reluctance to) this change is likely to lead to massive human famine around the world – a famine which I will witness in my lifetime.  In order to curtail the suffering to the furthest extent possible, we will be forced to rely heavily on our remaining reserves of fossil fuel.

So, natural gas is critical – it’s our methadone.  Of course, we must be careful not to let it become our next addiction.  It should not be reason to prolong the orgiastic fiesta of the last 150 years. 

In this light, I wish that those who oppose this project would spend their own time, energy and resources demanding laws and “grass-rooting” initiatives that will further help us change our way of life and stem the incoming tide of suffering.  Instead, I fear that actions such as this event are a continuation of the NIMBY greed and “I’ve got mine” mentality that considers only the short term and only the individual, while ignoring the long-term ramifications to all of humankind.

and, wouldn't this be part of, or one step in, the move to more sustainable sources? Isn't domestic LNG better than foreign oil? If so, then why not use it as a stepping stone to more sustainable sources?

Hey, check it out for yourself! The rally starts in 20 minutes from now, at 11 AM.