Radical Sierra Club Tries to Block Driftwood LNG in 5th Circuit
Driftwood LNG, a 27.6 million tonnes of LNG per year facility that will cost on the order of $16.8 billion to build, has not made an official final investment decision (FID) to proceed with building the FERC-approved project. However, construction began on the project in March 2022 (see Tellurian Begins Construction of Driftwood LNG with No FID). The EPC for the project is Bechtel Energy. Bechtel’s initial activities include demolition, civil site preparation, and construction of critical foundations. The Sierra Club, a radicalized organization rumored to be funded in part by Russian money, is trying to stop construction by claiming in a lawsuit filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that a permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers is unlawful.
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Yesterday the International Gas Union (IGU) released its 14th annual 2023 World LNG Report–the world’s most comprehensive public source of information on key developments and trends in the LNG sector (full copy below). With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the gas markets went wild last year. The IGU report calls 2022 the “most turbulent year of gas markets” in history and says, “LNG demonstrated essential value as a flexible, reliable, available energy resource for a secure energy transition.” Forget about the energy transition nonsense in that statement. The fact is, LNG saved the day over the past year plus. LNG, particularly U.S. LNG, pulled Europe’s bacon out of the fire.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: NextDecade announces FID on Rio Grande LNG Phase 1; NATIONAL: Maximum extraction – shale development enters a new era; ExxonMobil sees LNG as a growth business into the future; INTERNATIONAL: Oil breaks out of trading range closing above $80; Shell says cutting oil and gas production “dangerous and irresponsible.”
Yesterday MDN told you that on Monday, the clown judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e., the 4th Circus) illegally stayed a THIRD permit issued by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to traverse a piddly 3.5 miles of the federally-owned Jefferson National Forest (see 
What a disappointment Rich Negrin has turned out to be as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. During a DEP Citizens Advisory Council meeting held yesterday in Harrisburg (and remotely, via teleconference), several virulent anti-fossil fuelers addressed the council, making wild claims against the DEP. Negrin simply accepted their babbling and told them he agreed with them and would investigate any perceived problems. It was a shameful performance.
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