((Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
(Adds FERC Commissioner Clements’ comment at paragraph 3; Venture Global’s comment at paragraph 5)
Federal regulators on Thursday approved a liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana that has been a lightning rod for environmental advocates and a litmus test for President Joe Biden’s administration on energy policy.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted 2-1 to authorize construction and operation of the Calcasieu Pass 2 LNG plant and a related 85-mile natural gas pipeline. Outgoing FERC Commissioner Allison Clements cast the dissenting vote.
“These projects will result in huge greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to putting more than 1.8 million new gas-powered cars on the road every year,” Ms Clements said.
Venture Global LNG’s proposed multibillion-dollar export plant would supply 20 million metric tons per year of super-chilled gas to customers in Europe, Japan, China and U.S. exporters.
“This project will be critical to global energy security and supporting the energy transition, while providing jobs and economic growth in Louisiana and the United States,” Venture Global said in a statement after the vote.
Environmental advocates have criticized the project, saying it would bolster the use of fossil fuels that emit tons of pollution into surrounding communities while exacerbating global warming.
The FERC approval makes Alexandria, Virginia-based Venture Global the second-largest U.S. LNG exporter, behind Cheniere Energy LNG.N . The company has two plants operating or under development in Louisiana and aims to build 100 million tons of LNG capacity in the future.
The plant is the first to get a construction permit since the Biden administration in January suspended the granting of future LNG export permits to review the economic and environmental implications. That review is expected to be completed after the U.S. presidential election in November.
Environmental activist Bill McKibben called FERC’s approval a travesty for science and environmental justice, noting that the current summer has been the hottest in human history.
“This underscores how crucial and courageous Mr. Biden’s decision to suspend new permitting may prove to be. It is now the only defense against the indefensible,” said Mr. McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College.
