Louisiana state officials violated the Louisiana Constitution when they issued a permit for the Commonwealth LNG export facility, Louisiana Illuminator reports.
A Cameron Parish judge ruled late last week that the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy (formerly Energy and Natural Resources) failed to consider the environmental impacts on surrounding communities when it approved a permit for the export facility.
The Commonwealth LNG project, currently halted, is one of six LNG export projects in the works for Cameron Parish. The project’s coastal use application estimated that the construction of the pipelines, storage tanks and shipping facilities for the facility would dig or fill nearly 200 acres of wetlands.
The ruling judge cites the close vicinity of other export terminals as a factor in her decision, saying the state “failed to consider the secondary and cumulative impacts” of these facilities on climate change in the coastal zone.
There was no immediate response to attempts Tuesday to reach Commonwealth LNG about the court ruling.
