With eyes on more than 400 environmental and safety concerns, the U.S. Coast Guard officially stopped the clock last week on the approval process for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project planned for the southern stretches of the Santa Barbara Channel. A proposal from Texas-based NorthernStar Energy to convert the Platform Grace oil rig — some 10 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara and directly adjacent to the boundaries of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary — into an LNG facility had been on a fast-tracked review process that could have seen the Clearwater Port project approved as soon as next June — until now, that is. In a letter sent directly to NorthernStar on October 30, the Coast Guard, in conjunction with the U.S.