FERC pushes back environmental review for Commonwealth LNG project

摘要

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission suspended the environmental review schedule for the proposed Commonwealth LNG export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, creating a delay during a challenging year for LNG export developers. FERC notified Commonwealth on March 16. The commission observed that an October 2019 schedule had set the date for the issuance of a draft environmental impact statement to sometime in May and the date for a final report to October 2, 2020. But in February, the company informed the commission that it would not finish providing the information requested by FERC until July. The information included a pronouncement on an LNG storage tank design by the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The updated timetable from Commonwealth pushed back FERC staff’s schedule, but staff will continue to work on the review. “This is not a suspension of the commission staff’s review of Commonwealth’s project,” the commission said in the notice. “Staff will continue to process Commonwealth’s proposal to the extent possible based upon the information Commonwealth has filed to date while awaiting the responses and the PHMSA interpretation.”