A ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court has revoked NextDecade’s permit issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its Rio Grande LNG export terminal in Texas.
In a case put in front of the court, the Sierra Club, the City of Port Isabel, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, and Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera sued FERC for what they claimed were failings to adequately consider the environmental impacts and GHG emissions of the project, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Natural Gas Act.
According to a statement by the Sierra Club, a US environmental organization, this is the first time a court has vacated FERC approval of an LNG terminal.
“We are very pleased that the court agreed with our position that the development of these LNG facilities would adversely affect our community and that the impact of these adverse effects had not been adequately considered. In fact, the court found that the permits for these facilities were issued despite FERC’s recognition of these impacts,” Jared Hockema, city manager for the City of Port Isabel.
NextDecade said in a statement that the permit for the Rio Grande LNG facility was pulled because “FERC should have issued a supplemental environmental impact statement during its remand process”.
“NextDecade is disappointed in the court’s decision and disagrees with its conclusions. The company is reviewing the court’s decision and assessing all of its options. At this time, construction continues on the first three liquefaction trains and related infrastructure at the Rio Grande LNG Facility, and the company is evaluating the impact of the court’s decision on the timing of a positive final investment decision on Train 4,” the company explained.
The Rio Grande LNG facility has been in development for several years and the three trains that are part of Phase 1 are now expected to reach completion by early 2029 at a cost of around $18bn.
Before this, NextDecade was planning to start the construction of the fourth liquefaction train in the second half of 2024 after the FID. The company even announced that it had awarded a $4.3bn EPC deal to Bechtel for the fourth train only hours before the court made its decision. NextDecade expected total estimated costs for Train 4 to be between $6bn and $6.2bn.
Earlier this year, UAE’s ADNOC acquired an 11.7% stake in Phase 1 of the project as well as a 20-year LNG offtake agreement from Rio Grande LNG Train 4 with NextDecade. Saudi Aramco also signed a deal with the LNG developer for the supply of 1.2m tonnes of LNG per annum for 20 years.
Take the Survey at https://survey.energynewsbeat.com/
