On the heels of recent court decisions forcing federal regulators to reconsider approvals of three liquefied natural gas terminals, the court is now being asked to do the same with a fourth — Venture Global’s proposed Calcasieu Pass 2 terminal in Louisiana.
On Sept. 4, environmental groups and residents filed two petitions asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the June decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allowing the proposed $10 billion CP2 to be built.
Opponents of the plant in southwest Louisiana have labeled it a “carbon bomb” that would emit greenhouse gasses equivalent to 1.8 million gasoline-powered cars — more than the total number of vehicles registered in the entire state.
Since FERC approved CP2, the court in separate cases has remanded or vacated FERC's approval of the Rio Grande, Texas and Commonwealth LNG facilities. In rejecting FERC’s decisions on those terminals, the court cited inadequate review of their impacts on environmental justice, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and other factors.
“In recent weeks, federal courts have repeatedly affirmed that methods like FERC used here are inadequate and unlawful. We think the Court will find, once again, that FERC did not do its job,” Nathan Matthews, senior attorney of the Sierra Club, said in a statement. The Sierra Club filed one of the petitions challenging the CP2 decision on behalf of Healthy Gulf, Louisiana Bucket Brigade and other environmental organizations.
Megan Gibson, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said FERC has done “little to no analysis of these incredibly dramatic impacts on the local community.” SELC filed a petition to overturn the CP2 approval on behalf of commercial fishers and landowners in the area.
“You know, aside from being unlawful,” Gibson said, “it shocks the conscience.”