Flaring from the Venture Global Calcasieu Facility is visible for miles in the night sky. In March,Venture Global told regulators and customers that issues with the Calcasieu Pass LNG facility will delay the start of commercial operations. They described the issues as “failures in the five horizontal heat recovery steam generator (HRSGs) units that facilitate combined-cycle power generation” and, more specifically, “leaks in the welds between the upper carbon steel header and finned tubes of the HRSG units” that will “require extensive repairs and replacements.” These failures affect the on-site power plant—a seemingly basic module that provides energy for gas liquefaction. The announcement is another troubling sign for Calcasieu Pass, where massive methane gas releases and high rates of flaring have already raised concerns since pre-commercial operations started last year.

Read the report: Download “Failing the “Climate Test” LNG Projects Awaiting Final Investment Decision Do Not Stand Up to U.S. Government Analysis

Background

In December 2024, the Biden Administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) published a long-awaited update to the agency’s analysis of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. The multi-volume analysis, termed the 2024 LNG Export Study, represents the most comprehensive government assessment to-date of the energy, economic, and environmental impacts of U.S. LNG exports.

Highlights

  • Major proposed LNG projects would fail to achieve the “climate neutrality” benchmark put forward by a 2024 federal analysis (“2024 LNG Study”) to inform the review of LNG export applications under the Natural Gas Act.
  • As a result, pending LNG export applications appear to be inconsistent with the U.S. public interest and would drive up global greenhouse gas emissions. This finding is robust across policy/technology assumptions that the U.S. government included in the 2024 LNG Study.
  • Even if major steps were taken to clean up the gas supply chain, U.S. exports would be inconsistent with the 1.5ºC climate goal. This is because LNG expansion drives up energy demand and displaces renewable energy in importing markets, according to the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) that underlies the government study.
  • LNG projects are a risky investment. They take years to build and decades to pay off, and the Natural Gas Act authorizes the U.S. government to rescind export authorizations that are deemed inconsistent with the public interest.
  • LNG expansion harms communities and working families. The massive growth in LNG infrastructure along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast is already having significant public health impacts, and threatening coastal communities and ecosystems in the process.

Downloads:

Failing the Climate Test