A federal court is sending energy regulators back to the drawing board to reconsider the climate risks of a proposed liquefied natural gas export project in Louisiana.
In a ruling Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “inadequately explained its failure to determine the environmental significance of the project’s greenhouse gas emissions,” and also failed to properly assess the effects of the project’s nitrogen dioxide emissions.
But the court stopped short of tossing out FERC’s project authorization entirely.
“We think it is ‘reasonably likely’ that, on remand, the Commission can redress the defects in its [greenhouse gas] emissions and cumulative effects analyses and still authorize the Project,” said Judge Brad Garcia, referring to the proposed Commonwealth LNG project.
