WASHINGTON (CN) — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced Thursday the approval of two polarizing gas pipeline projects in Southern Louisiana and the Pacific Northwest.
The approvals allow Venture Global to increase the construction of its Plaquemines liquified natural gas project and to expand the Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline that connects fracked methane from Canada to the Pacific Northwest and California.
Upon its completion, the Plaquemines project's export terminal will be one of the largest in the country. A Sierra Club and Healthy Gulf report estimates that the total greenhouse emissions from burning the fracked gas at the terminal would be roughly equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 42 coal plants or 35.8 million cars.
Plaquemines Parish encompasses the last 70 miles of the Mississippi River before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. The area is especially susceptible to severe flooding and hurricanes. The proposed site for the terminal flooded during Hurricane Ida in 2021. Environmental groups warn that flooding could cause toxins from the terminal to taint the water supply.
The southeast region has struggled to provide clean drinking water due to saltwater intrusion and is suffering from extreme drought.
"Now is not the time for the Biden Administration to rubber stamp an abusive company that has continued to stress the municipal water supply, even in the midst of this crisis," Louisiana Bucket Brigade Director Anne Rolfs said in a statement. "The clear course of action is to stop construction of Plaquemines LNG and tend to the water crisis there. People — not a giant corporation — should be prioritized."
As sea levels continue to rise in the area, one Sierra Club member local to the region described the parish as ground zero for climate change and coastal land loss.
"Plaquemines LNG is a prime example of environmental racism and injustice," Jessi Parfait, Louisiana field manager for Sierra Club, said in a statement. "With Plaquemines LNG and the inevitability of more hurricanes, FERC, Venture Global and all those investing in this project are ensuring that vulnerable communities will be displaced from their homes. Louisiana deserves so much better than this."
According to Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson, expansion to the Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline would emit approximately 3.47 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year for at least the next 30 years, the same output as adding 754,000 cars on the road each year until 2052.
"GTN Xpress is a significant fossil fuel expansion at a time when Oregon and Washington are moving away from fossil fuels," Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden wrote in a letter to the commission.
Attorney Audrey Leonard of Columbia Riverkeeper said the organization planned on filing a petition for rehearing challenging the project.
"FERC failed to listen to senators, governors, state attorneys general, tribes and the public in its rubber stamp of unnecessary fracked gas in the Northwest," Leonard said. "The commission's decision violates the public interest and common sense."
Canada-based TC Energy owns the pipeline and also runs the Keystone pipeline, which leaked 500,000 pounds of crude oil into Kansas in 2022.
"Since the analysis for this project was published, two major TC Energy pipelines have failed, causing safety hazards and spilling fossil fuel," Leonard said. "If this were to happen in dry, rural, fire-prone lands or in the residential areas where TC Energy's GTN pipeline is located, it would be catastrophic."
In April, Biden approved a former President Donald Trump era Alaska Gasline Development Corp's project to export natural gas to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement, mainly in Asia.
"The effects of climate change are being felt in real time in places all over the country," Parfait said. "Extracting and exporting gas is not compatible with the climate goals we must achieve if we are to avoid making the situation even worse."
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