In the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Annova LNG Brownsville Project, the agency quantifies over 350,000 tons per year of direct operational carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions from the proposed natural gas terminal. But FERC fails to provide meaningful analysis of the resulting climate impacts. We submitted joint comments urging FERC to better contextualize the project’s impacts using the social cost of greenhouse gases methodology.
In addition to its direct operational emissions, the Annova LNG project will emit 163,000 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent pollution from construction, while its power needs will result in well over 1 million tons of carbon emissions each year. FERC does not contextualize any of these emissions in the EIS. The agency also fails to calculate or monetize emissions from combustion of the 6.95 million metric tons of natural gas that the project would transport. Our comments argue that direct and downstream emissions must be weighed effectively. FERC should use the social cost of greenhouse gases methodology to assess the significance of the project’s climate impacts.