The new Trump administration issued its first approval for exports from a new liquified natural gas plant proposed in Cameron Parish.
The permit approval for Commonwealth LNG comes just under a month after President Donald Trump entered office, aligning with his campaign promise to unleash U.S. natural gas.
“Today marks one of many steps that DOE (the Department of Energy) will be taking to assure our future as a reliable energy supplier to the world and resume regular order to our regulatory responsibilities over natural gas exports,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Headquartered in Houston, Commonwealth LNG plans to build a natural gas export terminal on 150 acres where the mouth of Calcasieu Ship Channel meets the Gulf of Mexico. The plant would export up to 9.5 million metric tons of liquified natural gas per year — the equivalent of just over 3,700 Superdomes filled with natural gas.
Liquified natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas that has been supercooled to near-liquid form to make it easier to ship overseas. The U.S. is currently the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas.
The permit from the Department of Energy would allow the company to export LNG to countries beyond those with which the U.S. has free trade agreements if it secures the financing needed for construction and receives approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the federal agency that oversees the transmission of electricity and natural gas.
The facility Commonwealth LNG plans to build is one of 16 export terminals proposed on the Gulf Coast. It’s less than a third of the size of another LNG terminal proposed just across the Calcasieu Ship Channel called CP2, which would be the largest LNG plant in the world if constructed.
Given the project’s medium size, Ira Joseph, an analyst with Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, said he didn’t expect the project to cause “a big ripple” in the country’s LNG landscape.
But the Trump administration’s approval does suggest that more LNG projects will likely be permitted in the U.S., Joseph said.
And Commonwealth officials agreed.
“Today’s actions demonstrate that President Trump is prioritizing the American energy industry and we are both pleased and grateful to have achieved these important regulatory objectives,” said Commonwealth CEO Farhad Ahrabi.
Under former President Joe Biden, the Department of Energy slow-walked new permits for exporting natural gas to non-free trade agreement countries, citing a need to study the effect that more natural gas exports would have on the economy, public health and the environment.
LNG export plants have proliferated on the Gulf Coast despite pushback from some who live nearby. Residents worry about the plants being built in an area prone to hurricanes, as well as the companies causing air pollution, destroying wetlands, making an outsize contribution to climate change and potentially harming local fisheries.
A study commissioned by the Department of Energy in 2024 found that the U.S. has already approved enough LNG exports to meet global demand, advising future administrations to take caution before approving larger LNG projects. It also found that exporting more LNG could increase the cost of natural gas in the U.S., especially on the Gulf Coast and in the Southwest. The study also found that the unfettered rise of LNG could displace the development of renewable energy in other parts of the world, especially Asian countries.
In its announcement, the Department of Energy said it issued the permit for Commonwealth LNG because it would likely “yield economic benefits to the United States, diversify global LNG supplies and improve energy security for U.S. allies and trading partners.”
The Energy Department didn’t respond to a request for the analysis that led to those findings.
The recent LNG study found that while exports will likely help grow the country’s gross domestic product, it was unclear if that would correspond to improving the quality of life for American citizens.
Joseph said he wasn’t sure how the project would improve energy security for allies, given that Commonwealth LNG mostly plans to sell its natural gas to companies that will then resell the gas elsewhere.
“ So they have no idea where the LNG is actually going to go,” he said.
With its Department of Energy permit now in hand, Commonwealth LNG says it could commit to moving forward with construction of the natural gas export facility by the end of the year. So far, the company reports having 70% of the long-term contracts needed to justify the $4.8 billion project, giving it solid footing to secure financing and reach a final investment decision.
But another regulatory hurdle remains: the company still needs a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agency issued one in 2022. But a federal judge in D.C. revoked that permit last summer, finding that the agency failed to properly review the health and environmental impact of the project’s nitrogen dioxide emissions. Nitrogen dioxide is an air pollutant known to contribute to smog and breathing problems. The project could release up to 453 metric tons of nitrogen dioxide each year.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to release an updated environmental impact assessment of the project by the end of February, which could allow the permit to be reinstated.
In a statement, Ahrabi, the head of Commonwealth, said he expects to have renewed approval from FERC by July and commit to building the project in September. The plant would take about three years to build. Ahrabi hopes to start operations by early 2029.
