Louisiana Court Halts Construction of Controversial LNG Export Terminal

In a significant legal victory for environmental advocates, a Cameron Parish judge has ruled that state officials violated the Louisiana Constitution when they issued a permit for a liquefied gas export terminal. The decision, reached on October 13, 2025, has effectively halted construction on the Commonwealth LNG export facility.

The judge found that the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy failed to properly consider the environmental impacts on surrounding communities when approving the permit. The halted Commonwealth facility is one of six LNG export projects proposed, approved or operating along Cameron's coast. These facilities would collectively dig up or fill nearly 200 acres of wetlands and water bottoms, according to the project's coastal use permit application.

The judge cited the close proximity of other export terminals as a key factor in her decision, stating that the state "failed to consider the secondary and cumulative impacts" of these facilities on climate change in the coastal zone. Environmental groups, including the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and Turtle Island Restoration Network, had filed the lawsuit in August 2024, arguing that the agencies have long ignored the devastating effects on air and water quality, as well as the health of the local community.

The state permit for Commonwealth LNG will now be suspended until the Office of Coastal Management reevaluates the project's climate change and environmental justice concerns. The judge has ruled that the state must find the impacts on the community do not outweigh the benefits of constructing another LNG export facility along Cameron's coast in order to reissue the permit.