Texas natural gas export project gets favorable environmental review

The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave a favorable environmental review Wednesday to a  proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Texas.

FERC staff concluded that the project, developed by Cheniere Energy Inc., would result in some environmental impacts, mostly in the short term.

{mosads}But the agency recommended a set of mitigation measures that “would ensure that impacts in the project area would be avoided or minimized and would not be significant,” it said in its report.

The proposed terminal in Corpus Christi would be able to liquefy and export 2.1 billion cubic feet of gas per day and to import and 400 million cubic feet a day.

It would have three liquefaction facilities, two berths for ships and be able to store up to 3.4 billion cubic feet of gas, FERC said.

FERC’s commissioners will take the review into account when they vote on whether to approve a permit for the terminal’s construction.

Cheniere would still need approval from the Energy Department if it wants to export LNG to countries without United States free trade agreements.