FERC recommends Venture Global’s CP2 LNG approval in SEIS 

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released its supplemental environmental impact statement for the highly controversial liquefied methane gas export project Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2) LNG. 

The SEIS claimed the emissions from CP2 LNG would have “no significant cumulative air quality impacts” despite well documented air pollution violations from Venture Global’s existing Calcasieu Pass terminal from community and environmental organizations, impacted fishermen, and individuals.

Proposed by Venture Global, CP2 LNG would generate pollution equivalent to the emissions from more than 47 million gasoline-powered cars or 54 coal-fired power plants. The facility would be located adjacent to the existing Venture Global Calcasieu Pass LNG facility and less than two miles from the proposed Commonwealth LNG facility. CP2 is sited for an area that has more low-income residents than 93% of the country.

Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG has already exposed the surrounding community to dangerous air pollution well in excess of permit limits in over 130 incidents since it began operations in 2022. Fishermen have reported a dramatic impact on their livelihoods since the commencement of Calcasieu Pass operations, highlighting the severe negative impact of gas exports on the local economy and environment that would be made worse with the operation of CP2.

In response, environmental and frontline community groups released the following statements:

“The CP2 project would emit thousands of tons of harmful air pollution every year. FERC is trying to pass the buck on this pollution to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. But the D.C. Circuit has repeatedly held that this pollution is also FERC’s problem,” said Nathan Matthews, Sierra Club Senior Attorney. “EPA’s own modeling tools show that CP2’s air pollution will cause real harm, including premature deaths. It is shameful and unlawful for FERC to turn a blind eye to those impacts.”

“FERC just told Southwest Louisiana what we already knew: our lives, our lungs, and our future matter less to them than billionaire profits. Calling the air pollution from what would be the largest LNG export terminal in the country ‘not significant’ is an insult to the people who live here and are choking on the fumes of industry,” said James Hiatt, the founder of For a Better Bayou. “This isn’t regulation - it's complicity. FERC isn’t protecting the public; they’re paving the way for corporate expansion while our communities get left behind, poisoned, and ignored. This decision makes it crystal clear: the system is rigged for a few rich folks and outside corporations.” 

“Venture Global has not resolved the June 29, 2023 compliance order for Calcasieu Pass LNG. The LADEQ compliance order detailed 100s of NO2, numerous particulate emission, and a host of other pollutant exceedances in 2022. Each one of these exceedances is a permit violation,” John Allaire, a resident of Cameron, LA and an impacted landowner, said. “Today, May 9,2025, the State of Louisiana issued another compliance order detailing even more VGCP air permit violations from 2023 and 2024. This order details over 130 violations related to excess NO2 and particulate emissions among other permit violations. We can expect more of the same for CP2. FERC’s  conclusion that there will be no significant cumulative air quality impacts indicates that the agency’s only objective is to permit this project, no matter the levels of pollution or the impacts of us that have to breathe the air. 

“Shrimp fisherman of Cameron are a dying breed. I see no future for us if CP2 gets approved. Not only our our catches a fraction of what they were before the LNG terminals started, but our air quality is much worse. We are on the water near the facilities and have to breathe their pollutants. My wife was getting nosebleeds every night we fished near CP1," said Ray Mallett, resident of Cameron, fisherman, oysterman, and shrimper. "Though we are very disappointed in FERC’s latest approval of CP2LNG and it’s finding that there are no significant cumulative air quality impacts, we are not surprised. These state and federal agencies only look out for the rich, powerful corporations. They don’t care about that those of us just trying to make an honest living.”