Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG likely delayed as FERC anticipates new court-ordered EIS to take until November 2025

A new, court-mandated environmental study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will likely delay NextDecade Corp.'s Rio Grande LNG and Glenfarne Energy Transition LLC’s Texas LNG plants.

US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in August ordered FERC to redo the environmental analysis because of shortcomings in the EIS when it vacated and remanded the project’s previous certificates (OGJ Online, Aug. 7, 2024).

FERC, in a notice Sept. 13, said it expected to have a draft supplemental revised EIS for each project by March 2025, a new draft environmental impact statement (EIS) sometime between July 31, 2025 and Oct. 29, 2025, with the final order by November 2025. The commission noted that if the schedule slips, it would give additional notice, “so that the relevant agencies” are kept informed of the project’s progress. 

“[T]he vacatur and remand appears likely to create delays for both projects,” research group ClearView Energy said in a client note. The court granted both NextDecade and Glenfarne 30-day extensions to file requests for rehearing, meaning that the FERC certificate remains in place until Oct. 21, ClearView explained.

NextDecade and Glenfarne did not respond to requests for comment on their timelines considering the FERC EIS schedule.

ClearView said it believes FERC will not appeal the court’s order. “It is common, but not guaranteed, that if …a further appeal is pending, the court will withhold its mandate, thereby leaving the agency approvals in place while those processes play out. We have not observed an occasion where an agency has undertaken formal action to address an adverse court ruling prior to a court issuing a mandate to do so,” the research group noted.

Project sponsors said they will file a formal rehearing with the court. The DC Circuit could deny rehearing but could opt not to throw away the certificates to give the project sponsors time to ask for a US Supreme Court for review this fall, ClearView said. If this happens, current certificates would remain in place allowing Rio Grande LNG to continue construction and Texas LNG to potentially begin construction.

FERC said it would supplement its 2019 analysis to focus on issues identified by the court as deficiency of the previous environmental review. The supplemental EIS will include an updated analysis of the environmental justice impacts associated with the construction and operation of the two products and a revised analysis of air quality impacts resulting from construction and operational emissions.  FERC staff also will recommend ways to lessen or avoid impacts analyzed in the new EIS.

A FERC spokeswoman did not comment, citing FERC policy not to opine on legal cases.

Phase 1 of NextDecade's 27-million tonne/year (tpy) Rio Grande LNG plant is under construction in Brownsville, Tex. The company is evaluating the impact of the court’s decision on Train 4 final investment decision (FID) timing. It had been anticipating positive FID in second-half 2024 (OGJ Online, Aug. 6, 2024).

Glenfarne is seeking to make FID on its Texas LNG plant in Cameron County, Tex., later this year (OGJ Online, Aug. 7, 2024).