HOUSTON (Reuters) - (This May 9 story has been corrected to clarify that the additional review was ordered by FERC, not by the U.S. Court of Appeals, and to delete a reference to the court ordering FERC to reconsider the ramifications of the CP2 project on air quality, in paragraph 5)
U.S. federal regulators recommended in a final environmental report that Venture Global’s proposed CP2 liquefied natural gas export project in Louisiana get the go-ahead, according to a government document filed on Friday.
If constructed, CP2 will be the single largest LNG export facility in the U.S. and help the country remain the world’s largest exporter of the superchilled gas.
Venture Global already obtained approval to construct the 28 million tonnes per annum plant, but was forced to conduct an additional environmental review of air quality impact following a court ruling.
The study concluded that the project should be allowed to continue, the document from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission showed.
The additional review followed an August 2024 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that quashed FERC approval of rival LNG exporter NextDecade (NASDAQ:NEXT)’s plant at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. In light of the court ruling, FERC decided to review the CP2 project’s impact on air quality.
CP2 has been at the center of a fight between the energy sector and environmentalists seeking to limit future LNG projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast.