An export forecast becomes a local question where pipelines reach a terminal. EIA's February 22, 2017 outlook expected four LNG facilities under construction to join Sabine Pass by 2021. The five plants were projected to provide 9.2 billion cubic feet per day of operational export capacity. For communities around that infrastructure, the national total is a starting point, not a description of local benefits or burdens. [30052][25232]

EIA's March 4, 2016 explanation shows the physical connection. The Gulf Coast's existing pipeline network made it attractive for export-terminal development, and many proposed or developing facilities occupied sites used for LNG imports. The account also linked terminals with gas from the Appalachian Basin. This is infrastructure geography, not evidence that every producing region or coastal community experiences the same consequences. [30052][25232]

The earlier explanation identified environmental impact statements prepared by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for terminals within its jurisdiction. That gives residents a concrete institutional process to distinguish from export projections. An assessment concerns consequences; neither its existence nor a national capacity forecast demonstrates that a particular neighborhood is protected, harmed or compensated. Deepwater terminals fall under a different federal authority. [30052][25232]

Our public-interest reading is to follow the physical route rather than divide a national forecast into imagined local gains. Questions about construction and operating burdens belong with the places and institutions involved. These two EIA accounts supply the connection and the projected scale, but no measured distribution of jobs, health effects or household gains. They are complementary agency explanations, not independent evidence that export growth benefits everyone. [30052][25232]

Source documents

  1. Liquefied natural gas exports expected to drive growth in U.S. natural gas tradehttps://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30052
  2. Growth in domestic natural gas production leads to development of LNG export terminalshttps://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25232