The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld FERC's 2025 authorization of Venture Global's CP2 LNG terminal and its 91-mile CP Express pipeline in Louisiana, rejecting all eleven claims brought under the Natural Gas Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The ruling on Tuesday clears the primary legal obstacle to the Calcasieu Ship Channel project, which remains on schedule for first LNG in the second half of 2027, according to the company.

What did the court decide?

Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg, a Reagan appointee writing for a panel that also included Judges Karen Henderson and Patricia Millett, found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission complied with federal law when it authorized construction.

"Leaving no stone unturned, [the challengers] improbably allege the Commission committed no fewer than eleven errors under the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)," Ginsburg wrote. "Because these arguments lack merit, we deny the petitions for review."

The challengers — environmental groups and local fishermen led by For a Better Bayou — had argued that FERC failed to take the required "hard look" under NEPA at the project's effects on air quality, commercial fishing and climate change before finding the terminal in the public interest. Commercial fishermen asked the court last year to halt construction, claiming sediment from the works was smothering shrimp, oysters and fish.

Why does the NGA presumption matter?

Ginsburg noted that the Natural Gas Act sets a high bar for FERC to find an LNG terminal inconsistent with the public interest: the commission begins its review with the presumption that it must approve the project.

"Insofar as Bayou seeks something akin to a bright-line rule for when a terminal will be inconsistent with the public interest, it is out of luck," the judge wrote, calling the determination a "fact-bound inquiry."

The panel also held that a recent Supreme Court ruling limiting the scope of NEPA reviews barred it from weighing additional factors the challengers raised.

"Bayou's challenges ultimately ask us to engage in a more searching review than precedent allows," Ginsburg wrote.

How did the parties respond?

Nathan Matthews, a senior attorney at Earthjustice who argued the case, said FERC approved CP2 without arguing that the benefits outweighed its costs.

"FERC acknowledges the harm it's causing by approving the massive CP2 LNG terminal and gas pipeline, but FERC approved the project anyway," Matthews said in an emailed statement. He added that a separate, still-pending lawsuit challenges the Energy Department's alleged failure to consider how the terminal would harm the nearby community of Cameron Parish.

"These agencies must go back to the drawing board to do their jobs and properly serve the public interest," he said.

FERC does not comment on litigation as a matter of policy. A Venture Global spokesperson said the company welcomed the decision.

"The CP2 facility is critical to U.S. economic growth and global energy security, and we are pleased to see FERC's diligent, thorough review and approval of CP2 LNG upheld by the DC Circuit," the spokesperson said in an email.

"Construction continues to advance well and safely at CP2, with first LNG expected in the second half of 2027, providing new energy supply to stabilize global markets and support our allies around the world," the spokesperson added.

What happens next?

For a Better Bayou and its allies have fought for years against the proliferation of LNG facilities along the Calcasieu Ship Channel, citing cumulative effects on air quality, the climate and local fisheries. Tuesday's decision forecloses the consolidated NGA and NEPA challenge to the FERC authorization, but the pending suit against the Energy Department over Cameron Parish impacts keeps federal-court exposure to the project alive.

The watch items: the outcome of the DOE litigation, and whether Venture Global holds to its second-half 2027 first-LNG target at CP2.