FERC gives Cameron LNG clean bill of health

WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- There may be some environmental impacts from the Cameron liquefied natural gas in Louisiana, but they'll be manageable, a U.S. regulator said. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued its final environmental impact statement on the Cameron LNG facility. It said Wednesday the construction and operation would result in some environmental damage, but that damage would be rendered "less-than-significant" by the company's proposed mitigation strategies.

There was no statement from the project company on FERC's assessment.

The project will be able to export about 12 million tons of LNG sourced from U.S. natural gas basins each year. In February, it received regulatory approval to ship LNG from a terminal in Cameron Parish, La., to countries that don't have a U.S.-free trade agreement, such as India and Japan.

Cameron is the sixth such project in the United States to receive non-FTA approval since 2011.

Construction is scheduled to start this year and full-scale operations should commence in 2019.