USDoE: LNG Reviews must await EIA's
(c) Mike Mareen / Adobestock
The U.S. Department of Energy announced on Tuesday that it will not be able to finish reviews of two projects for liquefied gas in Louisiana until a regulatory agency independent of the Department has completed its environmental assessments.
The DOE stated that it must wait until the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has completed its work to review export applications to countries where the U.S. doesn't have free-trade agreements. Venture Global LNG’s CP2 facility, which is a 20 million ton facility per year, and Commonwealth LNG’s planned 9.5 million tons per annum facility are the two projects. The two facilities are both located in Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico.
The department stated on its website that "DOE can't complete its review of the two applications CP2 and Commonwealth until FERC has completed the environmental reviews and issued final merits orders."
The decision was made in "consistent" with the precedents set by the two previous administrations and President Joe Biden. FERC pulled Venture Global’s authorization last month to build CP2, requiring a further environmental assessment of air quality impacts. FERC did not specify how long the review would take. A FERC spokesperson did not respond immediately to a comment request.
CP2 is at the heart of a battle with environmentalists who want to limit future LNG project on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The facility was approved for construction by FERC in June.
The additional review comes after a U.S. Court of Appeals decision from August 6 that quashed FERC approval of NextDecade’s plant in the Port of Brownsville (Texas) and ordered FERC reconsider the project ramifications by submitting a new environmental report and allowing public comments.
Venture Global LNG last Thursday criticized FERC for its request for a second environmental review, saying that the company will be ready to start construction as soon as it receives a final approval.
FERC has also held up its approval of the Commonwealth LNG facility in Cameron. Commonwealth LNG has stated that it is confident in the project and will provide all input requested for the supplemental impact statement.
(source: Reuters)
