Stewardship of an energy project cannot be located only where its cargo leaves shore. EIA's March 4, 2016 account described a Gulf Coast pipeline network attractive to LNG developers and connections between export terminals and Appalachian gas supplies. For interfaith and secular ethical discussion, that geography invites attention to more than one community. It does not tell us that their interests are identical. [30052][25232]

The physical transformation is specific: EIA explained that gas cooled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit becomes liquid occupying one six-hundredth of its gaseous volume. This makes vessel transport possible. Our ethical interpretation is that the convenience of moving a resource should not erase responsibility for the places enabling that movement. The mechanism grounds the question without supplying a verdict on any particular project. [30052][25232]

By February 22, 2017, EIA projected that five plants would offer 9.2 billion cubic feet per day of operational export capacity by 2021. That expected scale was not a measurement of community welfare. The earlier account also described FERC environmental impact statements for terminals under its jurisdiction. Assessment is a way to examine consequences, not evidence that consequences are absent or that every obligation has been discharged. [30052][25232]

Different religious and nonreligious perspectives may weigh economic opportunity, environmental care and local agency differently. These sources do not authorize us to speak for those traditions. They instead support a concrete responsibility: discuss projected trade alongside the physical places and assessment processes involved. A forecast about capacity should remain a forecast, while claims that communities have benefited should await evidence about those communities. [30052][25232]

Source documents

  1. Liquefied natural gas exports expected to drive growth in U.S. natural gas tradehttps://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30052
  2. Growth in domestic natural gas production leads to development of LNG export terminalshttps://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25232