Despite a widely reported pause on permits for liquefied natural gas terminals in the United States, federal regulators on Thursday approved the construction of the country’s largest LNG terminal, months before that pause ends.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 2-1 approval of the $10 billion Calcasieu Pass 2 in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, doesn’t mean developer Venture Global will begin construction of the facility to export condensed and supercooled energy. methaneBut this marks a major step forward for the company, which has been seeking approval from FERC. 2.5 year old application Starting from February.
In a statement after the decision, the company said it was waiting for Energy Department approval to export fuel to certain countries, which was suspended by the Biden administration in January.
Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said the project is “critical to supporting global energy security and the energy transition, and will bring jobs and economic growth to Louisiana and across the United States.”
Supporters are expected to sue FERC over the approval. “We are ready and willing to sue,” said Roischetta Ozané, leader of the Louisiana Vessel Project, a mutual aid, disaster relief and environmental justice nonprofit, who brought dozens of community members and opponents to the FERC meeting.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
“We’re not going to let this come to our community quietly.”
The lone dissenting vote was from outgoing FERC Commissioner Alison Clements, who said the commission failed to adequately evaluate the facility’s impacts on nearby communities and the climate. She said approving the terminal would be the equivalent of putting 1.8 million gasoline-powered vehicles on the roads each year.
For environmentalists and fishermen along the Gulf Coast, the vote marks a major setback for communities and climate change. CP2 With labels Some environmentalists have called it a “carbon bomb” and are hesitant to consider LNG exports alone. largely 20 percent.
The terminal, along with nine others in the planning or operational stages, will be located within a 60-mile span. The Gulf Coast has a total of 17 export terminals that are operational, under construction or approved.
“CP2’s approval blatantly ignores the Biden Administration’s moratorium on LNG approvals, which is crucial in assessing the serious economic, health and climate risks posed by a major expansion of methane export facilities in the United States,” said Breon Robinson, a resident of Lake Charles, Louisiana, located north of the LNG plants, and a Southwest Texas community activist for the nonprofit Healthy Gulf.
Venture Global website
In January, the Biden administration Ordered The Department of Energy will suspend approvals for new liquefied natural gas terminals while it further studies the impacts of methane exports. The move comes as Stopped Federal approval of CP2 and 16 other terminal plans. FERC is an independent regulatory agency appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The suspension is intended to allow the Department of Energy time to consider whether exports to countries that do not have free trade agreements with the United States are in the public interest.
The last DOE study concluded in 2018, before production of the fuel surged and the U.S. became the world’s largest LNG producer. Exporter In 2023 Biggest Buyer About half of the LNG for the proposed terminal is in non-free trade countries such as Germany and Japan, which have contracts for about half of CP2’s production.
Since the moratorium went into effect, the Biden administration pressure The industry and leading Republicans in Congress have called it a political tactic and called for an end to it. Former President Donald Trump has said he would allow more exports to go ahead immediately if elected this fall. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has said the study isn’t expected to be completed until the first quarter of 2025.
Including data from the government’s own Energy Information Administration. display LNG exports have boosted domestic prices of natural gas for consumers and industry.
However, FERC did not consider such effects, and the agency repetition It has rejected calls to factor the impacts of climate change into its decision-making and has yet to reject the construction of an LNG terminal.
The Unlikely Coalition Behind Biden’s LNG Pivot
Thursday’s decision Environmental Impact Statement A report completed last year concluded that while the facility and the 85-mile pipeline would have some adverse impacts, most were “minor” and could be mitigated. Climate change impacts “are not classified in the EIS as significant or non-significant,” according to the FERC summary.
Clements said the new information, including CP2’s emissions, should have been addressed in the supplemental EIS, but she said it was amended to include emissions data the company submitted to FERC.
Proponents of LNG construction argue that exported gas could offset carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants in other countries. But on Tuesday, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said report China’s renewable energy has proven to be a more effective substitute for coal than LNG. study Professor Bob Howarth of Cornell University said that greenhouse gas emissions from LNG are 274 percent increase Rather than burning coal.
In Cameron Parish, which has lost half its population since Hurricane Rita in 2005, some residents say methane emission facilities like CP2 are necessary for the parish to survive.
“You can imagine what would happen to Cameron County in terms of infrastructure development, tax revenue and jobs if we didn’t have LNG coming to Cameron County,” said Howard Romero, chairman of the Cameron County Port Terminal District. video Posted by the Diocesan Governing Body.
Romero maintains that those opposed to the terminal are not from Cameron Parish, but fishermen and other anti-CP2 groups argue the opposite is true.
In a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this month, the group said its analysis of form letters in support of CP2 found that none were from Cameron Parish, 75 percent were from outside Louisiana, and 60 percent had ties to the fossil fuel industry. The group noted that more than 15,000 individuals and organizations have written comments and letters opposing the plan.
If approved by FERC, Venture Global will obtain a final air pollution permit from the State of Louisiana. A complaint was filed regarding the coastal zone use permit.
But with so much money at stake, project backers are likely to balk without assurances that fuel can be delivered to CP2’s largest customers, said Gillian Giannetti of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“That’s not realistic or practical and would be extremely bad business,” she said.
