FERC’s likely rubber stamp will not deliver Venture Global’s CP2

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is expected to approve Venture Global’s massive CP2 LNG project at its Open Meeting today. The proposed project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana is a carbon bomb with lifecycle emissions 20 times worse than the Willow Project in Alaska. Opposition to the terminal in communities across the Gulf and around the country helped galvanize President Biden’s LNG permitting pause in January.

Even if FERC votes to approve CP2, the project cannot commence construction until the Department of Energy (DOE) determines that exports are in the public interest. This is the approval process the Biden Administration paused in January so that much-needed updates could be made to the climate, consumer, and environmental justice criteria used to evaluate LNG exports. The DOE’s review process for CP2 cannot begin until the pause is over.

Venture Global continues to spin the immense climate, consumer and environmental justice risks of CP2:

• European bait-and-switch. Venture Global has characterized CP2 as a boon to energy security in Europe. But nearly 65% of CP2’s current long-term Supply and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) are with Big Oil companies, commodity speculators or end-users in the Asia-Pacific region.
  • Any LNG from CP2 is years away from production, while gas demand in Europe is expected to continue shrinking towards 2030.
  • Over 10% of CP2’s capacity has been reserved by the China Gas company, despite the fact that research released this week indicates that LNG exports to China will not displace coal.

• Lobbying Blitz. In late 2023 and early 2024, Venture Global was faced with growing opposition to CP2 followed by the Biden Administration’s permitting pause. It responded to these challenges by hiring the CGCN Group and Putala Strategies.
  • This was an intentional strategy to cover both sides of the aisle: CGCN is a GOP firm with a specialty in energy and Putala Strategies is led by former Biden aide Chris Putala.
  • It is possible that this new lobbying muscle is also helping Venture Global navigate an increasingly public fight with other fossil fuel giants. The company is alleged to have extracted major profits on the back of contract violations related to the start-up of its Calcasieu Pass export facility.
  • Also on Venture Global’s payroll via the lobbying firm Van Ness Feldman is former Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA)–a fossil fuel booster who sits on the Leadership Council of Natural Allies, a methane industry front group.

• Greenwashing Bonanza. In 2021, Venture Global declared that it would capture an estimated 500,000 metric tons of CO2 annually from the liquefaction process at CP2.
  • Thanks to fossil fuel concessions included in the Inflation Reduction Act, this captured CO2 could net the company as much as $510 million in tax credits over 12 years.
  • That means Venture Global stands to net half a billion dollars in subsidies in exchange for mitigating less than 1% of the project’s annual lifecycle emissions.

Lukas Ross, Climate and Energy Justice Deputy Director at Friends of the Earth, said this:

A rubber stamp from FERC is business-as-usual for fossil fuel projects. Thankfully CP2 has a long way to go and we intend to fight it every step of the way. No amount of lobbying will make this project anything other than a climate and environmental justice nightmare.