(The Center Square) – A Louisiana district court judge has vacated a coastal use permit issued for the Commonwealth LNG export facility planned in Cameron Parish, ruling that state authorities did not properly consider the environmental impacts.
Judge Penelope Richard of the 38th Judicial District Court in Cameron Parish found that the Office of Coastal Management, an agency within the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources, failed to consider the cumulative climate and environmental impacts of the Commonwealth LNG project, in violation of state law.
The judge’s ruling marks the latest setback to the developers of the 9.8 ton per annum Commonwealth LNG project, which would be located on the west side of the Calcasieu Ship Channel.
In August 2024, the Sierra Club, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network sued to have Commonwealth’s coastal use permit revoked, arguing that the Office of Coastal Management had failed to adequately consider the project’s climate and environmental justice impacts.
Richard determined in the ruling that the Office of Coastal Management had failed to consider the secondary and cumulative impacts of the proposed export facility. Specifically, the judge ruled that the state agency must consider the “facility’s impact on climate-related change in the coastal zone, if any, in conjunction with the other LNG facilities in the area.”
Commonwealth LNG’s coastal use permit will be vacated until the Office of Coastal Management considers the secondary and cumulative environmental impacts and determines that the benefits of the project outweigh the costs to the community, the court ruled. The judge found that the state agency did not have the legislative authority to assess global warming or climate change in its evaluation of Commonwealth’s environmental impacts.
The court determined that “the broad language of the guidelines and statutes regarding assessing secondary impacts and cumulative impacts mandate that the OCM (Office of Coastal Management) has a duty to consider the totality of this project’s secondary and cumulative impacts,” including the potential impacts on storm severity or sea level rise in the coastal zone when taken together with two existing LNG facilities located near the Commonwealth site.
“The natural resources of the state, including air and water, and the healthful, scenic, historic, and esthetic quality of the environment shall be protected, conserved, and replenished in so far as possible and consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of the people,” The legislature shall enact laws to implement this policy, the judge ruled.
“We are heartened by the court’s ruling that LDENR’s refusal to consider the environmental justice impacts of the project violated the Louisiana Constitution. It is past time for LDENR to account for the true costs of its permits on Louisiana’s coastline and communities in terms of loss of wetlands and storm buffers,” Eric Huber, Managing Attorney at Sierra Club, said in a statement.
Commonwealth LNG did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
