We Energies planned natural gas plants in the Town of Paris will create jobs but may have harmful health effects.
The air around Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminals just got thicker. On Oct. 29, nonprofit watchdog organization Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) reported that all seven of the country's LNG Terminals active by the end of 2024 have violated air pollution permits at least once over the last few years -- including Kinder Morgan's Elba Liquefaction Terminal in Savannah.
But it wasn't the worst violator. The Elba Liquefaction Terminal squeaked by with the least number of air pollution violations of the facilities listed in the report -- one in the fourth quarter of last year -- compared to 11 or more quarters of noncompliance at three Louisiana terminals.
Still, even permitted emissions can harm the health of nearby communities, according to a report published by Greenpeace USA and the Sierra Club. For Elba Liquefaction Terminal, it estimated an impact of up to $8.2 million in total health costs per year.
LNG plants emit plumes of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds that result in headaches, coughing, dizziness and other respiratory illnesses, according to the nonprofit Environmental Health Project. Long-term exposure can lead to heart disease, some cancers, and damage to the reproductive system and internal organs.
But the U.S. does not seem willing to quit while it's ahead as the world's largest supplier of natural gas and largest LNG exporter, stepping on the gas even further. In October, LNG exporters announced plans to more than double U.S. their capacity by 2029, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The report identified 33 potential future LNG facilities, mostly in the Gulf states, five of which are already under construction.
"Pollution from the LNG industry is only expected to grow as the industry expands," said EIP Research Manager Alexandra Shaykevich who authored the report.
And the Elba LNG Terminal itself is also expanding its liquefaction capacity by 400,000 million tons per year. "The Elba Liquefaction Optimization Project is still an active project and remains under development," wrote Kinder Morgan Spokesperson Carolina Kulbeth in an email.
Regarding the 2024 violation, she wrote, "We do not have a comment."
Liquid gold weighs heavy
Liquefied Natural Gas is what it sounds like: gas that gets liquified. LNG export terminals cool methane gas to -260°F, compressing it 600 times smaller into a liquid form that gets shipped across water or terrain absent of pipelines. An LNG import terminal, meanwhile, receives the liquid gas then returns it to a gaseous state, according to the DOE.
Permitted air pollution levels from LNG export terminals operating in 2024 have caused about 60 premature deaths and nearly $1 billion in total health costs every year, according to the Sierra Club and Greenpeace's report. If all planned terminals and expansion projects are built, those numbers would more than double to nearly 150 premature deaths and $2.3 billion in health costs per year.
Situated along the Savannah River at Elba Island, the Elba Liquefaction Terminal liquefies and exports about 2.5 million tons of liquified methane gas per year, primarily for Royal Dutch Shell.
Elba emits 70,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year as of 2023, 75 of which are air pollutants harmful to human health including nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides, according to EIP's statements derived from EPA and state data. Collectively, the country's LNG terminals have released 18.2 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2023.
Easy on the enforcement
While EIP's report relies on reported EPA data, it calls for greater enforcement from the agency to demand appropriate restitution.
"States and the EPA have issued 15 enforcement actions over the last five years that have resulted in about a million dollars in penalties for clean air violations," said Shaykevich. "It's a drop in the bucket when compared to the maximum penalties allowed under law and the multi-billion dollar profits of the LNG industry."
The report found that the five Gulf Coast terminals have so far reported a total of 425 incidents releasing 14,155 tons of health-damaging air pollutants.
And state governments have responded to these violations "by simply adjusting the companies' permits to increase the amount of pollution they are legally permitted to release," the report stated. Regulators in Texas and Louisiana amended Clean Air Act permits for three terminals to allow an additional thousands of tons of air pollutants, clarified Shaykevich.
"We have eight types of cancers higher than to be expected," said environmental organization Better Brazoria Director Melanie Oldham who lives just a few miles from the LNG terminal in Freeport, Texas. In 2022, a 450-foot high plume of vapor released carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, propane, butanes, ethylene, benzene, sulfur dioxide and methane into the sky.
The only reported incident at the Elba LNG plant so far was a fire in 2020 from a refrigerant compressor, where gases are compressed and separated into liquid and vapor streams. At least two units were temporarily shut down after the fire, according to S&P Global.
While former President Joe Biden announced a pause to review of the environmental effects of new LNG export applications last January, the current administration has taking that briefing page offline. Instead, the White House has accelerated the LNG agenda.
"Under President Trump's leadership, DOE has authorized more than 13.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of LNG exports -- greater than the volume exported today by the world's second-largest LNG supplier," stated a White House press release last week. "Today, U.S. exports are approximately 15 Bcf/d, an increase of approximately 25% from 2024 levels."
Connecting the dots with pipelines
LNG terminals don't stand on their own. Miles of pipelines shoot off from the ports like spider legs.
"Fossil fuels aren't Georgia resources, they have to be shipped in and brought here," said Georgia InterFaith Power and Light Organizing Director Marqus Cole.
"To supply these terminals, new pipeline projects will be built to transport natural gas from production areas," stated an EIA brief last week. The brief listed nearly 120 national pipeline projects proposed, approved or in construction for completion within the decade, including the contentious South System Expansion 4 (SSE4) project operated by two Kinder Morgan subsidiaries, slated to be in service by the end of 2028.
Just this year, Georgia Power announced its plans to add five new methane gas plants. Georgia Power's parent company, Southern Company, owns a joint venture with Kinder-Morgan called the Southern Natural Gas Company that will soon be operating SSE4. The result is a web of pipes, LNG terminals and power plants.
"Building more pipelines also locks Georgia residents into a costly polluting system instead of investing in affordable reliable and clean energy," said Cole.
Jillian Magtoto covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. You can reach her at [email protected].
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation, Prentice Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners.