Healthy Gulf v. FERC (Commonwealth LNG)
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Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana
Julie Dermansky for NRDC
In December 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the Commonwealth liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility located in Cameron Parish, along Louisiana’s Gulf coast. Once in operation, the massive 150-acre facility would export up to 390 billion cubic feet of LNG per year.
But Commonwealth is the seventh LNG export facility FERC has approved in this already overburdened environmental justice region, and its harms to public health and the environment would be substantial: Each year, the facility would spew 3.6 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere—the equivalent of adding more than 700,000 new cars to the road. And it would release more than 500 tons of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) into nearby communities, contributing to hundreds of projected violations of EPA air quality standards.
So in March 2023, NRDC and our partners challenged FERC’s approval of Commonwealth in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. FERC didn’t take these climate or air pollution risks seriously when deciding whether to approve this new LNG export facility. Despite acknowledging Commonwealth’s GHG emissions would cost society more than $3.5 billion over the next 20 years, FERC refused to say whether it thought those emissions were significant and thus worthy of special attention under the National Environmental Policy Act and Natural Gas Act. The agency similarly downplayed the importance of Commonwealth’s nitrogen dioxide emissions by ignoring the total levels of NO2 that nearby communities already face from industrial polluters, including other FERC-approved LNG facilities.
Because FERC failed to acknowledge the significance of Commonwealth’s GHG and NO2 pollution, it didn’t properly weigh Commonwealth’s impacts when determining whether approving the facility was in the public’s interest.
The court agreed with us. In July 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted our petition in part, holding that FERC “failed to adequately explain why it could not determine the significance of the Project’s GHG impacts and failed to properly consider the cumulative effects associated with the Project’s NO2 emissions.” The court sent Commonwealth's approval back to FERC for further analysis. We will continue working to ensure FERC gets it right this time.
Help protect communities from dangerous liquefied natural gas!
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a dangerous substance composed primarily of methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The Biden administration has paused LNG exports—and now we must urge it to phase out all climate-wrecking fuels.
Case Documents
D.C. Circuit Opinion, July 16, 2024 (PDF) Petitioners' opening brief, October 27, 2023 (PDF) FERC's response brief, October 27, 2023 (PDF) Commonwealth's response brief, October 27, 2023 (PDF) Petitioners' reply brief, October 27, 2023 (PDF)Related Content
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