Puget Sound Energy Abandons Dangerous Expansion of Tacoma LNG Terminal

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https://earthjustice.org/press/2024/puget-sound-energy-abandons-dangerous-expansion-of-tacoma-lng-terminal

January 24, 2024
Puget Sound Energy Abandons Dangerous Expansion of Tacoma LNG Terminal

Victory — Facing lawsuit, PSE withdraws permits authorizing expanded use of its risky and controversial LNG facility for marine fuel and LNG bunkering

TACOMA, WA — In a significant win for the Puyallup Tribe, Puget Sound residents, and health and conservation groups who had opposed an expansion of a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Tacoma, Puget Sound Energy announced that it is abandoning its permit from the City of Tacoma for the project.

The Tribe and community groups had appealed permits for the project to the Shoreline Hearings Board; the case had already been scheduled for an April Hearing. Rather than defend the permits in the litigation, PSE abandoned the project. After the City of Tacoma cancelled the permit, the parties agreed to dismiss the lawsuit. The appellants filed the order dismissing the case yesterday with the Washington Shorelines Hearings Board.

An alliance of conservation and health groups have worked closely with the Puyallup Tribe to fight the terminal since 2019. The groups included Advocates for a Cleaner Tacoma (ACT), Sierra Club, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Stand.Earth, and Washington Conservation Action, represented by Earthjustice.

While the LNG terminal has been operational since February 2022, the proposed expansion would have allowed new vessels and “bunkering barges” to load LNG to power their own ships or to transfer fuel to other ships. This risky new use of the terminal would have significantly altered the activities allowed at the terminal, essentially allowing LNG barges to act like floating gas stations, refueling other ships in the Salish Sea and beyond.

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[Think. Again.]

1. Excellent news...

This, in addition to the pause that the Biden Administration has placed on LNG permitting (Biden Administration Reportedly Pauses Approval of 'Carbon Mega Bomb' https://democraticunderground.com/100218623698 ), looks like some REAL progress on our energy transition. Finally.