Proposed to be constructed on the west bank of the Calcasieu Ship Channel, the Commonwealth LNG project is expected to have a liquefaction capacity of 8.4mtpa

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The Commonwealth LNG project has been approved by the FERC. (Credit: Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay)

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Commonwealth LNG’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project of the same name in Louisiana.

The regulator said that it will grant the company’s application for authorisation under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) to site, construct, and operate the midstream project.

Proposed to be constructed on the west bank of the Calcasieu Ship Channel, the Commonwealth LNG project is expected to have a liquefaction capacity of 8.4 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa). However, when operating under ideal conditions, the project’s maximum liquefaction capacity could reach 9.5mtpa.

It will be located at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico near Cameron and will mainly feature six gas pre-treatment trains.

The decision to authorise the LNG project has come after the FERC staff’s issuance of a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project in September 2022.

The commission’s staff stated that the proposed Commonwealth LNG project after implementing the recommended mitigation measures in the EIS will result in certain adverse environmental impacts, but most of them will be brought down to less than substantial levels.

The FERC ordered the project proponent to follow the construction procedures as well as the mitigation measures as proposed by the company and the regulator’s staff.

FERC Chairman Richard Glick said: “Today’s order adopts the conclusion in the EIS that the facility will have significant visual impacts on certain surrounding environmental justice communities.

“And while I agree with that conclusion, I believe we must also continue to revise and refine our approach to environmental justice to ensure that we are adequately identifying all adverse impacts for environmental justice communities, mitigating them to the extent possible, and then seriously considering them in our public interest analysis.”

The LNG project’s operational carbon dioxide emissions are estimated to surpass 3.5 million tons per year. These emissions are believed to increase Louisiana’s carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 2% over 2019 levels.