Feds approve 4 new LNG export terminals in Texas

Fuel Fix:

Federal officials have approved permits for three new liquefied natural gas export terminals in the Rio Grande Valley and the expansion of another in Corpus Christi.

During a Thursday morning meeting, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Ron Chatterjee announced that the agency approved permits for Rio Grande LNG, Annova LNG and Texas LNG at the Port of Brownsville. The agency, he said, also approved the proposed expansion of Corpus Christi LNG at the Port of Corpus Christi.

“I’m very proud of the hard work that the commission and its staff have undertaken to continue our processing of LNG applications,” Chatterjee said in a statement.“The commission has now completed its work on applications for 11 LNG export projects in the past nine months, helping the United States expand the availability of natural gas for our global allies who need access to an efficient, affordable and environmentally friendly fuel for power generation.”

All four LNG export projects are being developed by liquefied natural gas companies headquartered in Houston. Rio Grande LNG is a project being developed by NextDecade Corp while Annova LNG is a Houston-based subsidiary of the Chicago utility company Exelon. Texas LNG is being developed by a Houston company under that same name.

Corpus Christi LNG is owned and operated by Houston liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy. The Corpus Christi facility already has two LNG production units known in the industry as trains in operation while a third is under construction. The FERC permit would allow Cheniere to build seven another smaller trains at the site.

The three Brownsville projects represent more than $38 billion of private investment, thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of high-paying permanent jobs in one of the poorest regions of the United States. Financial and jobs figures were not immediately available for the Corpus Christi expansion project.
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The Sierra Club says it will continue to fight the jobs at the Brownsville facilities.  The LNG operations should be a financial boon for the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  There will also be pipeline construction jobs to get the gas from the Permian Basin.  It should reduce the flaring of gas which is a byproduct of the oil drilling.  It will mean less pollution and more efficient fuel for the production of electricity by US allies.   Opponents of the facilities are pushing policies favored by Russia.