DC Circuit LNG Case Has Massive Energy Transition Implications

A recent decision by a panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appels to revoke final FERC permits for a pair of Texas LNG export facilities will have massive implications for the future progress of the energy transition if it is not reversed. A bipartisan group of US Senators and House members organized by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw are urging the full DC Circuit to reverse the decision.

The 2024 Election Signals Community Support

One of the more interesting aspects of the 2024 elections in Texas came in the fact that most South Texas counties voted solidly red for Donald Trump in the presidential race. Just 4 of the 31 counties south of San Antonio and only 12 of the 253 counties in Texas favored Kamala Harris in this election. The shift in voter sentiment in South Texas is particularly striking, given that as recently as the 2008 presidential race the heavily Hispanic counties along Texas’s border with Mexico were a solid sea of blue.

One Democrat down-ballot candidate who survived the election is Congressman Vicente Gonzales, a moderate who was able to keep his seat representing Texas’s 34th congressional district, which runs from Corpus Christi south along the Gulf Coast to Brownsville.

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, attends a House Financial Services Committee hearing titled Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy featuring testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in Rayburn Building on February 27, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

While this year’s race against Republican challenger Myra Flores was complex and involved a number of issues, including border security and inflation, one issue on which both candidates agreed was their support for the Rio Grande LNG export facility under development near Brownsville by NextDecade. Gonzalez has been a strong supporter of the massive facility which promises to bring thousands of good-paying jobs to the area, provide a boost to the local economy, and is broadly popular with local citizens and voters.

During an August 2023 public meeting held in Brownsville, Gonzalez pointed to the fact that Rio Grande LNG will be the first such US project offering 90% carbon emissions reductions in its construction and operations. “So, it’s the first of its kind,” Gonzalez said. “We’re real proud and happy to have it here and I tell my green friends, including AOC (New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and everyone about this amazing project that we have here – that really reduces carbon emissions.”

Following a complex, years-long process, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a final permitting decision to allow NextDecade to proceed with Rio Grand LNG in April of last year. Construction involving billions of dollars in investments has been underway since NextDecade reached a final investment decision in July 2023.