Docket No. CP14-517-001
We concur with the Commission’s decision to grant Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC’s (Golden Pass LNG) request to amend its 2016 authorization of the Golden Pass LNG export terminal to allow for continuous construction work 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24/7 construction). We write separately to express our concerns with respect to project impacts on minority and low-income communities.
In our view, the more intensive impacts expected from 24/7 construction (relative to the previously authorized activities) warrant a particularly searching review of effects on environmental justice communities near the project area. Many of these communities live within one mile of four of the satellite parking lots Golden Pass LNG proposes to use to accommodate its increased workforce, and one, the Hollywood Lot, is a mere 300 feet from an adjacent neighborhood.[1]
As a result, minority and low-income communities will bear the brunt of impacts from more vehicles using these lots and from buses transporting workers to and from the construction site, potentially even idling near residential areas. The Commission appropriately imposes a reasonable condition in today’s order to ensure that such bus traffic is kept as far away from residences as feasible. Golden Pass LNG also has offered several measures to mitigate the traffic and congestion impacts associated with the proposed continuous construction.[2]
This mitigation and Condition No. 5 reduce adverse impacts on environmental justice communities and are critical components of the Commission’s conclusion that the proposed project satisfies the statutory “public convenience and necessity” standard. Nevertheless, we expect that the company will carefully monitor the ongoing effectiveness of these measures to protect these communities from any unanticipated adverse impacts.
For these reasons, we respectfully concur.