On Louisiana’s disappearing coast, a natural gas terminal is poised to become the largest in the US

A natural gas export terminal near New Orleans is set to more than double in size, growing from about 590 acres to 1,220 acres, after the Army Corps of Engineers approved fast-tracked permitting under the Trump administration's "national energy emergency" declaration. That process cut the usual 30-day public comment period to 10 days. The $18-billion expansion at Plaquemines LNG, owned by Venture Global, could damage up to 470 acres of wetlands and river bottoms in Plaquemines Parish, a coastal area that has already lost more than 250 square miles of land over 60 years to erosion, subsidence, and sea level rise.

The terminal, which turns natural gas into liquid form (LNG) for shipping overseas, is already one of Louisiana's biggest polluters, releasing about 8.1 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. The expansion could push that to at least 9 million tons annually, though Venture Global says it plans to capture and store some of that carbon underground. Most of the gas shipped from the terminal last year went to Europe, with Germany the top buyer.

This isn't a program homeowners can sign up for or a rebate tied to home upgrades. It's a sign of how federal "emergency" permitting is speeding up big energy infrastructure with less environmental review, and it illustrates the kind of large-scale gas production and emissions that sit upstream of broader conversations about energy costs and climate change. It doesn't change anything about home energy programs or incentives directly.