Federal Court Cites "Nature And Severity Of The Flaws" In FERC Approval Of 2 TX LNG Plants - Blocks Construction
For the second time, a federal court struck down a regulatory agency’s authorization of two controversial, multi-billion-dollar gas export projects in far South Texas, one of which is already under construction. In an Aug. 6 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit cited “the nature and severity of the flaws” in reviews by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of the two proposed gas liquefaction and export complexes, Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG, along with the associated Rio Bravo Pipeline.
“Although we do not take this step lightly, the circumstances here require it,” the ruling said. “We appreciate the significant disruption vacatur may cause the projects. But that does not outweigh the seriousness of the Commission’s procedural defects.” The court wrote that FERC failed in its analyses of environmental justice and climate impacts, air pollution modeling and procedural obligations. FERC and the developers now have 45 days to seek a re-hearing.
The two complexes in question plan to pipe in Texas shale gas, condense it and load millions of tons per year onto tanker ships for sale overseas as liquified natural gas, or LNG. Each complex costs billions of dollars, spans hundreds of acres and makes up part of an ongoing boom in gas export projects along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.
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Tuesday’s ruling was the second time the court struck down FERC’s authorization of these projects in response to petitions from local groups supported by nonprofit environmental lawyers at the Sierra Club. The first time, in August 2021, the court ruled FERC failed to assess impacts of the projects’ enormous greenhouse gas emissions and had picked an arbitrary two-mile radius within which to conduct its environmental justice analysis. The court also said the projects modeled their air pollution using data from a faraway air monitor in Brownsville instead of the closer Isla Blanca monitor, and asked the commission to reconsider its finding that the projects were in the public interest.
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09082024/federal-appeals-court-reverses-approval-south-texas-lng-plants/