FERC staff noted environmental and other concerns that havebeen raised about Venture GlobalPlaquemines LNG LLC's proposed liquefaction and export project in Louisianaas the project, in prefiling, nears its formal application.

The FERC Office of Energy Projects on Oct. 5 issued a publicupdate on its review of the LNG project, which would be on the west bank of theMississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, La.

Concerns landowners have expressed about the project includeimpacts on fish and wildlife resources, vegetation, culturally and historicallysignificant sites, air quality, and water supplies and quality. Other issuesmentioned were cumulative impacts and impacts from noise and light pollution,erosion and sedimentation.

The FERC staff's scoping process will gather input on theproject from the public and from interested agencies. "We arecontinuing to conduct our review of the planned project based on theinformation we have received from Plaquemines LNG and Gator Express Pipelineand the comments we have received from stakeholders," staff wrote in theupdate. Landowners have until Oct. 14 to submit comments on theproject.

To supply the terminal, Venture Global Gator Express LLCwould install and operate two supply pipelines. The project wouldexport a maximum of 20 million tonnes per annum of natural gas, with the mostlyco-located pipelines to each provide 1.97 Bcf/d of capacity.

Venture GlobalLNG entered FERC's prefiling process June 18, 2015. The companyexpected to submit a formal application by February 2016 and begin constructionfor phase one of the project's LNG facilities by June 2017. An anticipated in-servicedate for phase one is 2020.

Plaquemines LNG and Gator Express are subsidiaries, while Venture Global LNG is majority owned by Venture GlobalPartners. (PF15-27)