By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. court on Tuesday ordered federal regulators to reassess the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from Commonwealth LNG’s liquefied project in Louisiana, potentially delaying full approvals for the venture.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia did not overturn the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 2022 approval of the project, ordering the agency to reconsider emissions after environmental groups filed a lawsuit saying they did not were taken seriously.
“We consider it ‘reasonably likely’ that the Commission can remedy the shortcomings in its analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and cumulative effects on remand and still approve the project,” the court said in its ruling.
Five environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, sued FERC over the approval, saying it failed to take climate and air pollution risks seriously when it approved the project in November 2022.
Commonwealth has not yet made a final investment decision (FID). If developed, the project is expected to begin shipping 9.5 million tons of LNG per year from Cameron, Louisiana, in 2028.
Lyle Hanna, a spokesperson for the Commonwealth, said the company will work with FERC during the reassessment and expects an FID in the first half of 2025.
Private equity firm Kimmeridge has acquired a 90% stake in Commonwealth LNG through its subsidiary Kimmeridge Texas Gas, it said in June.
At the time of the 2022 approval, Democratic members of FERC raised concerns about the impact of emissions linked to global warming and on communities often exposed to other forms of pollution, saying the terminal would annually emit the equivalent of would produce approximately 3.5 million tons of carbon emissions.
But they approved the project, saying federal natural gas law requires FERC to approve facilities unless they are contrary to the public interest.
The NRDC said the ruling will help ensure a “fair” review by FERC. “This ruling underscores what we have been saying for years: FERC continues to violate fundamental national environmental legal obligations to assess the community and climate impacts of LNG projects,” said Caroline Reiser, an attorney with the nonprofit.
It was unclear whether the decision could delay the start of the project, but it could delay another necessary approval. ClearView Energy Partners, a nonpartisan research group, said the Department of Energy, which has the power to approve exports to major global markets from the Commonwealth project, may not act while FERC reconsiders the impact of the emissions.
