Dardar v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied petitioners’ joint motion for a stay pending review of FERC’s authorization of the Calcasieu Pass 2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction plant and export terminal in southwestern Louisiana. FERC issued a final supplemental environmental impact statement for the project in May 2025 and subsequently issued an order implementing its original authorization of the project in 2024. The petitioners’ stay motion focused on harms from construction, not operation, of the project. The D.C. Circuit, in a one-page order, found that the petitioners did not satisfy the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.

The petitioners filed a joint motion to stay FERC’s order pending appeal. They argued that FERC’s NEPA analysis repeats many errors that the D.C. Circuit identified in recent decisions concerning other projects, including errors in the analysis of greenhouse gas emissions. The petitioners also argued that FERC’s determination of market need and public benefit under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act was arbitrary and contrary to law and that FERC “independently failed to consider the serious and well-documented harms on the other side of the scale,” including impacts on recreational and commercial fishing, landowners, and environmental justice communities.

Two petitions for review were filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order authorizing the CP2 LNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, and the CP Express Pipeline Project, which would include an 85.4-mile-long pipeline from Jasper County, Texas, to the CP2 LNG project.