Cheniere loses emission waiver at US LNG plants
US LNG company Cheniere has lost a request for a carveout from more stringent air emission limits that would have covered 62 gas-fired turbines at its two export terminals on the US Gulf Coast.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it has denied a request from Cheniere to write special air emission rules for the types of gas turbines it uses to liquefy natural gas at its 25mn t/yr Sabine Pass and 15mn t/yr Corpus Christi LNG export terminals. The agency cited the need to control emissions of formaldehyde to protect public health.
"Though EPA is denying Cheniere's request for a special subcategory to comply with the turbines rule, the agency will continue to work with them and with other companies as needed to assure they meet Clean Air Act obligations," the agency said.
Cheniere said it strongly disagrees with the decision but said it would work with state and federal regulators to ensure compliance. Cheniere said its "conviction remains" that the emissions from its gas-fired turbines do not pose a risk to public health, workers or the environment.
"Although this decision may result in unwarranted expenditures, we believe that the steps needed to come into full compliance will not result in a material financial or operational impact and that we will be able to continue to reliably supply LNG to customers and countries around the world," Cheniere said.
Cheniere did not respond to follow-up questions. Cheniere chief executive Jack Fusco, on an earnings call last month, said he believed that the situation was manageable. If EPA denied the company's request, Cheniere would likely work to negotiate "some type of consent decree" with state regulators, Fusco said on the call.
Industry analysts do not expect the decision will cause immediate disruptions at the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi terminals, which last year exported nearly 2 Tcf of natural gas, or nearly 55pc of all US LNG exports, according to federal data. It is "unlikely" EPA will mandate broad service disruptions, analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt said today.
EPA first set formaldehyde emission limits for stationary combustion turbines in 2004, and at the time sought to exempt gas-fired turbines from that rule. But a federal court blocked the exemption for gas turbines in 2007. Even so, EPA kept the emission exemption for gas turbines until 9 March, when it imposed a 5 September compliance deadline that it expected would apply to 250 turbines built over the last two decades.
Cheniere earlier this year unsuccessfully asked EPA to suspend the regulations, which it said would be "counterproductive" to the push by President Joe Biden's administration to boost US LNG supplies and break Europe's reliance on Russian natural gas.
Cheniere also asked EPA to create a special subcategory of emission limits for the "platform-mounted" refrigeration compression turbines it uses at its Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi export terminals. Cheniere said its turbines have "unique" challenges to installing emission controls, justifying a special subcategory. EPA said it denied the request.
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UN carbon market enshrines appeal, grievance processes
UN carbon market enshrines appeal, grievance processes
Berlin, 3 May (Argus) — The much-debated procedure for appeal and grievance processes for people negatively affected by carbon mitigation activities was finally passed this week by the regulator of the future UN carbon market. The supervisory body of the Paris agreement crediting mechanism, under Article 6.4 of the Paris climate agreement, called the appeal and grievance procedure a "crucial step towards developing a new international carbon market that sets the benchmark for high integrity carbon credits". The mechanism is expected to be passed at the UN climate summit Cop 29 in November in Azerbaijan. The appeal and grievance procedure sets the fee for filing an appeal at $30,000, compared with the $5,000 fee suggested in earlier iterations, which was seen by some supervisory body members at this week's meeting in Bonn, Germany, as "too low for project developers, but too high for vulnerable groups". The fee will be waived for appellants who are appealing for vulnerable groups, such as local communities and indigenous peoples. But the supervisory body failed to pass the mechanism's long-awaited sustainable development tool, instead launching a call for input. Members had criticised the lack of a validation and verification process for the tool, and its unclear delimitations, given that some of its objectives will be addressed in future rules on carbon removals activities or the carbon reduction methodologies under the mechanism. Making the tool mandatory was demanded by both countries and non-governmental organisations at recent Cop summits, with the lack of a grievance process and sustainable development tool part of the reason why the pricing mechanism was not finalised at Cop 28 in Dubai last year. The sustainable development tool of the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM), which the new mechanism broadly aims to replace, was never made mandatory. A total of 1,796 carbon mitigation activities have now requested to transition from the CDM to the new mechanism, of which more than 300 have not yet provided full details and could miss the 31 August deadline, the UN's climate arm said in Bonn. The supervisory body called for an extension of the transition period to 4 November. Work on the new mechanism's registry is also advancing, with the supervisory body agreeing to launch a consultation on the "legal, technical and financial implications of providing functionality for the treatment of financial security interests in Article 6.4 emissions reductions within the mechanism registry". By Chloe Jardine Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US job growth nearly halved in April: Update
US job growth nearly halved in April: Update
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Austrian regulator consults on gas tariff changes
Austrian regulator consults on gas tariff changes
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