This story was originally published by the Louisiana Illuminator.
Environmentalist groups and some Cameron Parish residents are disgruntled after Louisiana officials recently gave the go-ahead for construction of a liquified natural gas export facility after a state judge suspended the project.
Judge Penelope Richard of the 38th Judicial District Court, which includes Cameron Parish, suspended Commonwealth LNG’s permit last month in response to a lawsuit from the Sierra Club. She ruled the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy hadn’t considered the effects of climate change, the high density of gas export facilities already in the area and the disproportionate impact of pollution on nearby communities when it approved the permit.
The state agency then issued updated reasons Nov. 18 for approving Commonwealth’s permit, allowing the project to move forward. Officials again determined the proposed benefits of the project “outweigh the costs” of its environmental impact on Southwest Louisiana’s coast and communities.
“Economic benefit outweighing all of these things is frustrating to me,” said John Allaire, a Cameron Parish resident who lives within 30 miles of three existing LNG export facilities and six more planned or under construction. “The economic benefits of their facility outweigh flooding me out, outweigh the commercial fishing industry, outweigh the eastern black rail, outweigh protecting our cheniers … I don’t agree with that. How much is enough?”
The Department of Conservation and Energy’s new permit approval was based on an “independent analysis” of documents from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Those agencies considered the effects of climate change, environmental justice concerns and the cumulative impacts of multiple LNG facilities within a small area. All reached the same conclusion that the project’s benefits overshadow its costs.
Environmental groups staunchly disagree with the decision to reissue the permit.
The Sierra Club said in a statement through its managing attorney, Eric Huber, that the permit was approved “without any notice to the plaintiffs or the public,” who he said learned about it through the news reports. Turtle Island Restoration Network and Louisiana Bucket Brigade, also plaintiffs in the lawsuit, declined to comment.
Sierra Club attorneys are reviewing the latest permit approval to decide whether they will take further legal action. By reissuing the permit, the state Department of Conservation and Energy “continues to neglect its responsibility to protect the public health and welfare of all Louisianans,” their statement said.
In its new reasons for approving the permit, Conservation and Energy officials determined it was in the “best interest of the state” not to delay in reassessing the permit as reason for their speedy decision. This is, in part, related to the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda, which calls for further expansion of industries like liquified natural gas.
The agency also justified its use of these external documents rather than doing its own research by citing the federal government’s decision to abandon its environmental justice analysis tools, following an executive order from President Donald Trump the day after he took office in January.
Benefits cited in the state’s permit approval include job creation. Commonwealth estimates it will employ an average of 800 construction workers per month, with a peak of 2,000, over the three-year period. Half of all these construction employees are expected to come from Cameron and Calcasieu parishes, according to the document.
The permit approval explanation did list downsides to the project, including the destruction of around 90 acres of coastal wetlands in Cameron Parish. State officials accounted for this, saying “these wetland impacts would be mitigated and would not have a significant cumulative impact on environmental justice communities.”
Community advocates like James Hiatt, director of nonprofit For a Better Bayou, question whether the state is acting in the best interests of its residents.
“The job is not to expedite permits and do whatever corporations want. Their job is to protect national resources, the public good, the public interest,” Hiatt said, citing ongoing issues in Cameron Parish with rapidly eroding coastal land and disproportionately high pollution levels in communities closest to the LNG export sites.
The Commonwealth LNG facility will be built 750 feet away from Allaire’s property line, he said, adding that he feels Cameron Parish won’t see enough of the economic benefit from these facilities to make up for all of the drawbacks.
“They keep saying, ‘Well, it’ll be mitigated by economic benefit to the community,’” he said. “But come on down here and see where the economic benefit to the community is. It’s not here.”
