South Texas Environmental Justice Network v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Two environmental organizations and the City of Port Isabel filed a lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorizations of the Rio Grande liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on the Brownsville Ship Channel in Cameron County, Texas, and the associated Rio Bravo pipeline project. The petitioners’ primary challenge was to FERC’s order reaffirming its authorization of the projects under the Natural Gas Act on remand from the D.C. Circuit’s 2024 decision in <a href="https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/city-of-port-isabel-v-federal-energy-regulatory-commission_087bc9">City of Port Isabel v. FERC</a>, in which the court found that FERC failed to adequately analyze climate change and environmental justice impacts. The petition for review challenging the order on remand did not set forth specific arguments, but before FERC the petitioners had argued, among other things, that FERC should have analyzed a potential carbon capture and sequestration system as a connected action and that the projects were contrary to the public interest because they would not provide public benefits that could outweigh health impacts and other harms.