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A louisiana Judge rejects a key permit for a liquefied natural gas facility that has received approval from the President donald trumpU.S. administration is ordering a state review of how the facility’s planet-warming emissions will impact gulf coast Communities are vulnerable to sea-level rise and extreme weather.
Last week, a judge in Louisiana’s 38th Judicial District Court effectively halted Commonwealth LNG’s construction, in conjunction with the broader LNG buildout in southwest Louisiana’s Cameron Parish, by ordering state regulators to analyze the facility’s climate change and environmental justice-related impacts.
Three Eight of the country’s existing LNG export terminals are located in Cameron Parish, and several more are proposed or under construction.
Louisiana’s attorney general vowed to appeal the decision, which vacated the Louisiana Department of Conservation energyCoastal access permitted for convenience.
“This is the first time that a court has revoked a permit for an LNG facility based on the government’s refusal to consider climate change impacts,” said Clay Garside, an attorney representing the Sierra Club and other environmental groups.
Earlier this year, Trump reversed a Biden-era ban on exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, as part of his goal of boosting natural gas exports and promoting “energy dominance.”
Last year, Biden administration Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm issued a stark warning that “unbridled exports” of liquefied natural gas would increase planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions — a statement echoing the findings of an Energy Department report released in December.
Trump-appointed Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a fossil fuel executive, has moved to fast-track the construction of LNG facilities, including Commonwealth LNG, which received export authorization within weeks of Trump’s inauguration.
“Cameron Parish is ground zero for the continued expansion of the gas export industry,” said Anne Rolfes, founder of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental group involved in the litigation. “We’re going to stop it and this is an important step in that process.”
Commonwealth LNG spokesman Lyle Hanna said “We are disappointed by the District Court’s decision, and we are exploring all available legal options.”
A spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy declined to comment, citing the possibility of pending litigation. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the state planned to appeal.
“Sadly, even state court judges are not immune to climate activism,” Murrill said.
Last year, a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reevaluate Commonwealth LNG’s air pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. In June, the commission gave the green light to the project on the grounds that its construction was in the public interest.
In regulatory filings, the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy said that “climate change is currently outside the scope of this review.”
But District Judge Penelope Richard rejected that position, saying state environmental regulators have a duty to consider how the LNG facility, along with other nearby facilities, would affect extreme weather events, hurricane severity and sea level rise in a state where the equivalent of a football field of land disappears every 100 minutes.
Richard also ordered state regulators to analyze the facility’s impacts on local communities, particularly those living in poverty or dependent on fishing for their livelihoods – which he noted was a “defining characteristic” of the parish. While the facility could destroy marshes, harm water quality and displace residents, the judge wrote, “None of this was considered in the context of the impact on environmental justice communities.”
Commercial fisherman Eddie Lejeune, a lifelong Cameron Parish resident, praised the decision. He said the construction of LNG infrastructure, including dredging for shipping channels, has caused significant damage to the fishing industry.
“Fishermen are barely hanging on by a thread,” Lejeune said. “These plants are destroying estuaries and destroying our livelihoods. We are going extinct.”
In August, a dredging channel being developed by LNG firm Venture Global leaked into the nearby estuary. Local fishermen like Lejeune say the onslaught of salt water and sediment will kill vast quantities of oysters, crabs and fish.
Venture Global, which is in the process of building a second LNG export terminal in the parish, said it is “committed to conservation” and is working with state regulators and the community to respond to the incident.
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Brooke is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.