Governor Bob Riley has approved the application submitted by TORP Technology to operate a liquefied natural gas terminal 63 miles off the Alabama coast after the company agreed to use an environmentally-friendly method to reheat the gas. The company had originally proposed using an open-loop system that would have used seawater from the Gulf to warm up the imported LNG. Governor Riley has consistently opposed applications by companies that planned to use the open-loop system because of the negative impact on Alabama’s marine resources. In 2006, Governor Riley opposed a plan by ConocoPhillips to build an LNG facility using the open-loop system 13 miles south of Dauphin Island.