Court Sends Commonwealth LNG Decision Back to FERC in Response to Legal Challenges

WASHINGTON - Today, the US Court of Appeals for the DC District agreed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission failed to fully and adequately assess the cumulative and direct environmental and health impacts that would be caused by air pollution from Commonwealth LNG, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and Natural Gas Act. While the court stopped short of vacating FERC’s approval of the project, it returned the decision to FERC for reconsideration. 

This decision comes in response to parallel lawsuits filed last year by Sierra Club on behalf of itself and Center for Biological Diversity, Healthy Gulf, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and Turtle Island Restoration Network, and by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 

“The Commission inadequately explained its failure to determine the environmental significance of the project’s greenhouse gas emissions,” and its approach to analyzing nitrogen dioxide air pollution “would eviscerate the purpose behind requiring a distinct cumulative effects analysis in the first place, which is to account for ‘collectively significant’ environmental impacts that may result from ‘individually minor’ actions,” the court wrote.

In response to the decision, environmental and Gulf Coast groups issued the following statements: 

Caroline Reiser, Senior Staff Attorney for the Sustainable FERC Project at NRDC: “Fossil fuel companies should not get a free pass to build dirty projects in the backyards of Gulf communities, and this decision will help ensure FERC does an honest reckoning of this  project’s impacts. FERC now needs to do a real evaluation of the public interest and the environmental impacts of this project. This ruling underscores what we have said for years: FERC continues to violate bedrock national environmental legal obligations to assess the community and climate impacts of LNG projects. The law does not allow FERC to just be a rubberstamp.” 

Nathan Matthews, Sierra Club Senior Attorney: “This decision is a big win for communities facing the already very real and growing threats caused by expanded gas exports. Commonwealth LNG would just be one of eight terminals either proposed or operating in Southwest Louisiana. FERC’s own modeling shows that air pollution in the area will exceed national standards. The court affirmed that FERC can’t keep making the problem worse by approving new projects without first considering the cumulative impact on the health and wellbeing of surrounding communities, in addition to broader contributions to climate change. Now, FERC has a chance to get it right on Commonwealth LNG. Once the full scope of air pollution and greenhouse emissions are taken into consideration, the only conclusion will be for FERC to reverse the approval of Commonwealth LNG.” 

John Allaire, a landowner adjacent to the planned Commonwealth LNG facility: “I have submitted numerous comments to FERC about Commonwealth LNG and why they should deny their certificate. Those of us that are being impacted by the LNG export buildout celebrate this decision and urge FERC to go back and fully consider the cumulative impacts this massive fossil fuel project will have on our public and fragile coastal environment. Construction of Commonwealth LNG would destroy Cheniers and coastal marshes, and habitat of the Eastern Black Rail, a small bird listed as threatened on the Endangered Species list. The Commonwealth LNG site is already experiencing severe erosion due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, and tidal surges during hurricane events have exceeded 16 feet over the past several years. Commonwealth would also be located .4 miles from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG, which is already polluting our air and water, and wrecking local fisheries. Today’s court decision is a victory, but the fight is not over, and we will keep going until Commonwealth LNG gives up.”

Anne Rolfes, Director, Louisiana Bucket Brigade: “Given the reality of rising seas and more furious storms, Commonwealth’s plan to build on the fragile coast of Louisiana has never made sense. The court’s decision underscores how fundamentally wrong the FERC commissioners have been to rubber stamp gas export facilities like Commonwealth. In the day and age of extreme heat and devastating climate effects, FERC abjectly failed by not even considering the greenhouse gas emissions. A high school student could do a more serious review than FERC did. Thank goodness Commonwealth is back under review.”

Jason Totoiu, Senior Attorney, Center for Biological Diversity: “We’re very pleased with the court’s decision. This project would worsen air quality and severely harm the critically endangered eastern black rail, a rarely seen but beautiful denizen of coastal marshes. FERC needs to recognize that the potential harms of this project to the region’s air, wetlands, wildlife and the local community greatly outweigh any purported benefits. It’s time to put this project to rest for good.”

James Hiatt, Director of For a Better Bayou: “The D.C. Circuit Court's decision to remand the Commonwealth LNG project back to FERC highlights a glaring issue: under Willie Phillips' leadership, FERC has continued failing to prioritize environmental justice. The court's critique of FERC's inadequate emissions review is a testament to Phillips' unwillingness to stand for the American people and the public interest. Enough with the lip-service about environmental justice: It's time to act on behalf of people and not polluting corporations.”

Joanie Steinhaus, Gulf Program Director, Turtle Island Restoration Network: “We are grateful that the court was able to see what FERC refused to at first. This should be a wake up call to FERC that it can not keep approving projects that will cause such harm to our local ecosystems, waterways, and people. This time around, with a proper review, FERC should reject Commonwealth LNG and any project like it that will further add to the burden of pollution we deal with already from these corporations.”

Additional Background on Commonwealth LNG:

If constructed and operated as proposed, liquefaction at Commonwealth LNG would emit 3.2 mmt/y of greenhouse gas emissions on site. However, its overall lifecycle emission would total 8.5 and 9.5 million tons per year of greenhouse gasses, and would result in lifecycle emissions equivalent to pollution emitted by 14 coal plants yearly, or almost 13 million gasoline-powered cars.

Commonwealth LNG is one of five proposed LNG, or methane gas, export terminals in Southwest Louisiana. There are already three massive LNG export facilities operating in the region, two of which are proposing to expand, in addition to dozens of petrochemical megaplexes. Many of the communities where these new LNG terminals are proposed are low-income communities of color that are already overburdened with pollution. All but two of the existing and proposed terminals in Southwest Louisiana would be sited in areas that the Council on Environmental Quality has designated as a Disadvantaged Community, and all are in the 94th percentile or higher in the Climate Vulnerability Index, a comprehensive assessment from EDF and Texas A&M that incorporates socioeconomic vulnerability, pollution exposure, health outcomes, infrastructure conditions, and climate and environmental conditions and risk. 

Additionally, if constructed, Commonwealth LNG will destroy roughly 100 acres of wetlands, which are natural and necessary barriers to hurricanes and storm surges along the Louisiana coast. Existing LNG export terminals in Louisiana have already destroyed over 1,065 acres of wetlands. This is a major concern for a hurricane zone such as Southwest Louisiana, which is preparing for what is predicted to be a very active hurricane season ahead.