Environmental group unlikely to challenge CP2 construction permit -McKibben
Jan 30 (Reuters) - Environmentalists are unlikely to challenge in court regulators’ expected approval of Venture Global LNG’s CP2 export terminal, activist Bill McKibben told Reuters on Tuesday.
McKibben, an environmentalist who led a successful fight against the Keystone XL oil pipeline, said his group is not interested in such a legal fight.
The Biden administration last week paused further LNG export licenses until the United States can assesses the economic, environmental and climate impact of additional LNG terminal construction.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) next month is expected to greenlight construction as the Department of Energy pursues its evaluation of new export permits.
“We’re a group of senior citizens with almost no staff. Almost all of us are volunteers. So I doubt it will be us,” McKibben said. “From a distance FERC just seems like an industry rubber stamp uninterested in, among other things, the climate impacts of LNG.”
Friday’s decision by the Biden administration to put a pause on LNG export licenses was a result of last year’s record land and ocean temperatures and the commitment by leaders at the United Nation’s COP 28 climate change conference to transition from fossil fuel, McKibben said.
He said natural gas is not the cleanest fossil fuel because there is a high level of methane escaping into the environment during shipments.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams; Editing by Mark Porter)
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”