I don’t love the idea of the LNG terminal. Never have, probably never will.

But I’m fast coming around to the idea that there is no solution to our energy problem that we’re going to love.

Our electricity system—our wider energy situation—is so broken now that whatever we do to try to fix it is going to have to be so drastic or expensive, it’s going to hurt.

For the LNG terminal, the problem is the cost for what is really a short-term band-aid.

We’re running out of gas fast. The entire country is.

It means we all have to get off gas. But that won’t happen overnight. It’ll take years, so we’ll probably run out before we’ve all switched to alternatives like electricity.

Hence the terminal – it will tide us over with gas until we’re all off it.

A billion dollars plus to get us through a few years? That’s pricey.

But not doing it—losing the Pan Pacs of this world—that’s much more costly. That’s a billion dollars, year after year after year, in lost revenue, income, and tax.

And this terminal is going to help Pan Pac stay here. That company is the last big pulp mill that hasn’t upped sticks. Maybe they do in the end, but the LNG terminal will keep them here for longer.

Yes, the LNG terminal decision hasn’t gone well for the Government. It’s going to divide opinion, if it hasn’t already. They’ve already had to backtrack on the gas levy that they spent weeks defending. It’s hardly going to look climate-friendly to the townie swing voter.

But it’s a tough call that probably needed to be made. And we’ve got more of these coming, because the LNG terminal won’t fix our energy system completely.

It’s an expensive solution for a short-term fix – but at least it is a fix.

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