Louisiana regulators have reissued a permit for a multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas terminal less than a month after a state judge ruled they had failed to consider the impacts of climate change and environmental justice, a judgment described as a first-of-its-kind.

The permit allows Commonwealth LNG, the Houston-based company planning the gas export facility in Cameron Parish, to move forward with its project. The Nov. 18 permit dismayed environmental groups and advocates, who saw the judge’s previous order as a marginal win against the rapid industrial expansion in southwest Louisiana.

Commonwealth is one of more than a dozen LNG export terminals existing, approved or proposed in Louisiana, which has become the global epicenter of the industry. The technology at these massive facilities converts natural gas into liquid form by supercooling it, allowing the fuel to be loaded on tankers and exported worldwide.

Proponents of LNG tout job creation, revenue and the importance of supplying U.S. allies with fuel long seen as burning cleaner than coal. The state’s basis for the decision for the permit also notes the “national significance” of LNG exports.

But making LNG is more energy-intensive than burning gas alone, leading to more emissions. Recent studies have also found that natural gas may be no better than coal when it comes to climate-warming emissions due to methane leaks throughout the supply chain.

In October, Judge Penelope Richard of Louisiana’s 38th Judicial District Court struck down a key environmental permit that the Louisiana energy department had granted to Commonwealth. Richard said the department needed to consider the impacts the terminal will have on the coastal zone and nearby communities, specifically mentioning people living in poverty and recreational fishers.

Her judgment also noted that Commonwealth would be the third LNG facility in the Calcasieu Ship Channel, and that state regulators were obligated to consider the “potential impacts on storm severity or sea level rise in the coastal zone together with two other LNG facilities,” she stated.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade and two national nonprofits, the Sierra Club and the Turtle Island Restoration Network, brought the case against the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy (formerly the Department of Energy and Natural Resources).

Environmental groups applauded the October ruling as an unprecedented win — the first time that a court has invalidated an LNG permit based on climate change and environmental justice.

Last month, the Louisiana regulators determined that the project was “in the best interest of the state” and reissued the permit.

Eric Huber, an attorney for the Sierra Club, said that the group’s attorneys are reviewing the decision and will decide “whether further legal action is in order.” Anne Rolfes, who runs the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said the state failed to get to the bottom of the problems the environmental groups raised.

“In particular, the agency didn’t go and talk to the fishermen and did not investigate the really serious claims that the fishing industry is being destroyed by the gas export tankers and pollution,” Rolfes said.

Commonwealth did not respond to requests for comment. The state energy agency declined to comment.

Using federal, state analysis

Around 90 acres of wetlands will be impacted, which will be “sufficiently mitigated” and not significantly harm environmental justice communities, according to the state. 

Louisiana officials relied on analysis from other agencies — the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state’s Department of Environmental Quality — in their determination of the climate change-related impacts from Commonwealth’s project. 

“The information being considered herein was already located within the administrative record of this permit application,” the state’s basis of decision states.

It similarly states that the record “already contains environmental justice analysis surrounding the proposed facility,” and points to the state and federal agencies. The state also says that re-creating the other agencies’ environmental justice analyses is no longer possible due to a January executive order by President Donald Trump that eliminated a federal environmental justice tool that FERC and LDEQ used. 

Environmental groups opposing the LNG buildout criticized the state for not conducting its own analysis beyond information already in the record. James Hiatt, who leads the southwest Louisiana nonprofit For a Better Bayou, said the agency is simply “rubber-stamping” the requests of the LNG corporations.