Findings from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) paint a grim future of what’s to come as the U.S. boosts its liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals. The report issued by the environmental nonprofit explicitly names four terminals expected to come online by 2026 that span a region of Texas and Louisiana already overburdened by the industry; those terminals—two in Jefferson County, Texas, one in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, and another in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana—secured permits allowing them to emit up to 27.3 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.
With the country already seeing its existing LNG facilities operating near capacity, the Environmental Integrity Project estimates that more than 90 million tons of greenhouse gases could be released annually were the U.S. to reach its goal of having 25 export terminals in operation. That’s the emissions equivalent of around 18 million gas-powered passenger vehicles. But, bear in mind, that’s just for the terminals themselves and doesn’t include upstream and downstream emissions from things like drilling, pipelines, or processing.
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“Although there is pressure to hurry up approvals of these LNG projects, government regulators should be careful and thoughtful in considering their significant environmental impacts,” EIP research manager Alexandra Shaykevich said in a statement. “A dramatic increase in global dependence on LNG could be risky, from a climate perspective.” So too are LNG companies’ proposals to somehow address those emissions. Many companies have hopped on the carbon capture and storage (CCS) bandwagon, despite the fact that the technology is unproven and outright dangerous to the same communities grappling with the environmental injustice inherent in the oil and gas industry. So unpopular is CCS that the city of New Orleans recently adopted a measure banning the technology altogether.
The resolution passed unanimously and followed a visit from Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who literally wrote the book on CCS and has been consistently pushing for the technology to be adopted. Even if CCS were to be successfully deployed in an equitable way, the damage will have already been done by LNG export terminals drastically altering their surrounding landscapes—an issue that has already led to increased flooding in areas like Calcasieu Parish, as operators prioritize their business over the communities they’ve forced their way into. Environmental justice advocates like Deep South Center for Environmental Justice executive director Dr. Beverly Wright urge states to stop embracing fossil fuels like LNG and false solutions like CCS and instead look toward the future.
Speaking about New Orleans’ decision to ban CCS facilities, Wright said in a statement that Louisiana must “develop and implement an energy plan... that cleans our air and powers our homes and vehicles while prioritizing equitable investments in communities and invests in people to get the necessary training for clean energy jobs of the future.”
