Sierra Club leads legal war against three LNG projects in Brownsville, Texas

摘要

The Sierra Club joined a Texas city, local groups and residents to sue federal agencies over authorizations for three proposed LNG export projects that would be sited around Brownsville, Texas, following an opening salvo against NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG terminal and a connected pipeline in February. The legal actions are additional complications for project developers that already face an economic downturn and a difficult global LNG market amid low commodity prices and the coronavirus pandemic. The Sierra Club, along with local groups the Shrimpers and Fishermen of the RGV and Save RGV from LNG, on March 27 sued the US Army Corps of Engineers over the agency’s February 21 order granting a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the Rio Grande LNG terminal and the related pipeline. “RGV” in the groups’ names stands for Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. The groups told the US Appeals Court for the 5th Circuit that the Army Corps failed to require measures that would help avoid or mitigate environmental impacts to wetlands.