Big Green trying to block completion of LNG export terminal

Fuel Fix:
Cheniere Energy is ready to start construction on an expansion of its Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas export terminal, but it can’t start work until federal regulators dismiss an environmental group’s request to intervene.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April cleared Cheniere to expand the terminal beyond the four trains already under construction in Louisiana, but the Sierra Club asked for a rehearing, delaying the project.

The Houston-based LNG company said its eager to start work on the project. It has locked in contracts for a fifth production unit with a French company and an English utility, which plans to use the natural gas it buys from Cheniere to heat 1.8 million homes in the United Kingdom, CEO Charif Souki wrote in a letter this week to FERC.

Cheniere is nearly finished piecing together financing for the project and is poised to give a construction company the green light to start work, but it can’t make a final investment decision until FERC rules on the Sierra Club’s requests.

It urged FERC to act soon to deny a rehearing, arguing that the group is raising the same concerns it made regarding the company’s Corpus Christi LNG export terminal, when federal regulators dismissed the group’s request for additional reviews.

The Sierra Club has argued that the terminal will contribute to air pollution and lead to a swell in natural gas production, in turn causing an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and an uptick in gas prices.
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I am skeptical of the good faith of this attempt to block the completion of the terminal.  Big Green has a habit of trying to drive up the cost of fossil fuel projects in hopes of making their inefficient alternatives look more competitive.  They keep raising the same tired objections.  You really have to question their credibility on the issue.  

This project will create several good paying jobs and help the US balance its trade deficit.  It also has the capacity to reduce pollution by replacing fuels that are not as clean as natural gas.

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