Environmental Groups Challenge Re-Issued Permit for Commonwealth LNG

CAMERON PARISH, La.- Today, three environmental groups filed a challenge to the reissued coastal use permit for the proposed Commonwealth LNG export facility.

The Sierra Club, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and Turtle Island Restoration Network filed the challenge in state court, citing the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy's failure to provide proper public notice, allow for public comment, or give an opportunity for a public hearing on the agency's re-issuance of its coastal use permit for construction of the Commonwealth LNG facility. LDCE also relied entirely on the final Commonwealth Environmental Impact Study to re-issue the permit, despite an earlier D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals finding that EIS unlawful, and failed to adequately consider the environmental justice and climate change impacts that a state court judge had ordered in throwing out Commonwealth's first coastal use permit in October.

If built, Commonwealth LNG would permanently destroy over 75 acres of wetlands in the Calcesieu Pass area, and alter hundreds more, adding to the already staggering permanent alteration of over 500 acres of wetlands approved for just two of the neighboring coastal LNG projects. The liquefied methane gas, known as LNG, it would export would have annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 14 coal-fired power plants or 13 million new gasoline powered vehicles.

The Sierra Club, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and Turtle Island Restoration Network released the following statements:

"Commonwealth LNG would destroy vital storm buffers, wetlands, and fishing sites, but LDCE refuses to do the right thing and put a stop to this project," said Eric Huber, Sierra Club Managing Attorney. "The communities who would be impacted by Commonwealth LNG have made it very clear that this project is not needed and not wanted. By refusing to allow public comment- and using a faulty study to justify its decision- LDCE is attempting to shrug off its responsibility to represent and protect the people of Louisiana."

"We are objecting to this permit because it was hastily reissued and did not give the judge's valid concerns the genuine scrutiny they deserved," said Anne Rolfes, Director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. "One of the concerns was for the fishermen in Cameron Parish, and the revised version does not address this issue at all. Our fishermen's livelihoods are threatened by the pollution and tanker traffic already in the area, yet the department is turning a blind eye toward their struggles. It's sad when our own state would put a corporation ahead of our fishermen. The department has done nothing more than rubber stamp a permit for an out-of-state corporation that has never cared about our home and never will."

"LDCE failed to consider the project's environmental justice and climate change impacts, and inadequately assessed the cumulative impacts from the Commonwealth LNG project with other nearby LNG export facilities", said Joanie Steinhaus, Ocean Program Director for Turtle Island Restoration Network. "This includes the six liquified LNG export terminals proposed, approved, under construction, or operating in the Lake Charles, Calcasieu River area. The communities of Louisiana deserve to be protected from further pollution and environmental harm."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.