31
AGPA claims that these steps are necessary to wean the United States from its historic, high-risk
dependence on foreign oil.
109
In particular, APGA contends that new environmental regulations will soon force coal
retirements, and that future greenhouse gas regulations may cause additional retirements in the
future. Sustained low prices for natural gas, according to APGA, will help to keep electricity
prices from spiking higher during this transition. A spike in electricity prices, APGA adds, will
have adverse rippling effects on the U.S. economy.
110
At the same time, APGA contends that Delfin’s plan to export natural gas will not prove
economically viable. APGA believes that economically recoverable domestic natural gas may
prove less robust than projected, especially given associated environmental costs and concerns
regarding the long-term productivity of shale gas wells.
111
APGA states that foreign alternatives
(such as LNG exports from Australia and Qatar) will soon remove the price arbitrage opportunity
that Delfin (and others) seek to take advantage of, as natural gas reserves from shale formations
and export capacity expand around the world. According to APGA, as other nations develop
their resources and export capacity and as U.S. natural gas prices increase due to the proposed
exports, international and domestic prices will converge. This, in turn, will “leav[e] the U.S.
with the worst of all worlds, i.e., higher domestic prices that thwart energy independence and
that undermine the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector that relies heavily on natural gas
as a process fuel.”
112
Finally, APGA contends that DOE/FE has failed to overcome any of the above claims
and that the NERA Study is fundamentally flawed. APGA acknowledges the findings in the
109
See id. at 4, 6, 10-15.
110
APGA Mot. at 13-14.
111
See id. at 4.
112
Id. at 15.
32
NERA Study that U.S. LNG exports are likely to yield net benefits to the national economy.
APGA asserts, however, that LNG exports will disproportionately benefit the natural gas
production sector while harming all consumers, resulting in “dire” distributional
consequences.
113
APGA also criticizes assumptions in the NERA Study that, in turn, rely on
EIA’s AEO data. According to APGA, DOE/FE is not justified in relying on models that include
historical data from a time period during which the United States sought to speed the pace of
LNG imports.
114
These models, according to APGA, “are incapable of making long-term
predictions for periods that follow dramatic change”— i.e., the shale gas boom and resulting
opportunities to export LNG.
115
E.
Sierra Club’s Motion to Intervene, Protest, and Comments
On May 27, 2014, Sierra Club filed a motion to intervene, protest, and comments
opposing Delfin’s Application.
116
Sierra Club states that its members live and work throughout
the area that will be affected by Delfin’s Liquefaction Facility, including in the domestic natural
gas fields that likely will see increased production as a result of the exports.
117
Specifically,
Sierra Club states that, as of April 2014, it had 2,954 members in Louisiana and 632,604
members overall. Sierra Club states that its members have vital economic, aesthetic, spiritual,
personal, and professional interests in the proposed Liquefaction Project.
118
Sierra Club contends that Delfin’s requested authorization is not in the public interest and
is not supported by adequate environmental and economic analysis, as is required to satisfy the
NGA and NEPA.
113
Id. at 18-19.
114
Id. at 21-22.
115
Id. at 22.
116
Sierra Club Mot. at 1.
117
See id.
118
See id. at 2.
33
1.
Alleged Scope of Environmental Impact Statement
Sierra Club asserts that DOE/FE cannot proceed with approving exports from Delfin’s
Liquefaction Facility until the NEPA process is completed and properly considered.
119
Sierra
Club states that DOE/FE must prepare a separate EIS if the NEPA analysis prepared by another
agency is inadequate to inform DOE/FE’s decision or discharge DOE/FE’s NEPA obligations.
120
Sierra Club asserts that DOE/FE must consider Delfin’s Project against the backdrop of
export applications pending before DOE/FE and those already approved.
121
Specifically, Sierra
Club argues that the NGA and NEPA, as well as the Endangered Species Act, require DOE/FE to
consider Delfin’s Application in the context in which the proposed project will occur.
122
Sierra
Club contends that DOE/FE’s analysis must not be confined only to the local, direct effects of
Delfin’s Application, but must also consider the indirect and cumulative effects from Delfin’s
proposal and all other LNG export proposals currently pending.
123
Sierra Club asserts that this
broader backdrop must inform the NEPA alternatives analysis. Additionally, Sierra Club asserts
that Delfin’s proposal will present novel engineering, logistical, and environmental issues, as no
NEPA review has been completed before for an offshore, deepwater LNG export terminal.
124
Sierra Club maintains that DOE/FE can best conduct this NEPA analysis by preparing a
programmatic EIS that considers the cumulative impacts of all potential future exports from the
proposed Delfin Liquefaction Facility, plus all other natural gas export proposals currently
approved and pending before DOE/FE. In support of this position, Sierra Club argues that
DOE/FE can only exclude analysis of an event when it is so remote and speculative as to reduce
119
See id. at 8.
120
Id.
121
Sierra Club Mot. at 11.
122
See id.
123
See id.
124
Id. at 12.
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