Commercial fishers from the U.S. state of Louisiana have challenged the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of a new natural gas project in their state, work on which resulted in dredged sediment spilling out into the surrounding marsh and burying crab taps and oyster beds.
“I’ve fished these waters most of my life. Since the first terminal came online, our catch has fallen off a cliff,” Cameron Parish, Louisiana-based commercial fisher Anthony Theriot said in a release. “More tankers mean more wake, more delays in the channel, and more mud stirred up where shrimp and oysters should be. The quality of our lives, air, and waters are declining, and FERC just approved this massive, incredibly harmful project on top of everything else. We’re fighting for a future where our kids can still work these waters.”
Virginia, U.S.A.-based natural gas company Venture Global has been constructing a new natural gas (LNG) terminal and feeder pipeline in Cameron Parish. In August, sediment that had been dredged for the project escaped, flooding into the surrounding waterway. Local fishers claimed the escapement would cause significant damage to commercial fishing in the area, harming oyster beds and blocking shrimp from navigating waterways.
Shortly afterward, local conservation group For a Better Bayou called on the state and federal governments to order Venture Global to cease and desist its operations and take corrective actions. In a statement released at the time, Venture Global said it “notified the appropriate regulatory agencies” and was “communicating directly with affected parties, including crabbers in the channel, to develop mitigation and remediation plans and minimize the potential for an event like this again.”
However, local fishers say the damage has been done and allege that other incidents have occurred since the 4 August spill.
“Fisherfolk in these communities have relied on these waterways for generations, but since the first terminal came online, their livelihood is under threat,” For a Better Bayou Executive Director James Hiatt said in a release. “We don’t need yet another export terminal, and it should never have been approved. We urge the court to take these harms seriously and put people’s livelihoods and lives over corporate interests by vacating this authorization.”
Now, For a Better Bayou, commercial fishers, and local community groups have challenged FERC’s decision to allow the project, alleging the government body dismissed concerns over the project’s impact on the fishing sector, local communities, and the environment. The fishers are being represented in court by four conservation legal groups: Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club.
“Under the Natural Gas Act, FERC’s job isn’t to rubber-stamp export facilities and pipelines; it’s to make a reasoned, record-based public interest determination,” SELC Senior Attorney Megan Gibson said in a release. “This means identifying any real benefits, grappling with the foreseeable harms, and explaining why any alleged benefits actually outweigh those harms. Instead, FERC tallied the upside of serving a private export terminal and overseas buyers while sidelining the very real costs to Cameron’s multigenerational fishing families, local communities, and consumers. That is not what the law allows, and it’s why we’re asking the court to vacate this authorization.”
The challenge was submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit 14 October.
