Cornyn is expecting tough road ahead for the new trade accord
Texas Sen. John Cornyn warned Friday that getting the revised North American Free Trade Agreement through Congress will be “one of the heaviest lifts we have this year.”
The veteran Republican expressed concern about how the agreement would look when it comes out of the House, as free trade deals get tougher scrutiny from both parties.
“Trade has gotten a little bit of a black eye. There’s people like the president who are more populist, not necessarily free traders,” he said, speaking at the CERAWeek by IHS Markit. “I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get that trade agreement across the floor. It’s going to be tough.”
Three months after President Donald Trump signed on to an updated trade deal — which he’s calling the United States-MexicoCanada Agreement — pro-trade leaders in the House and Senate are working to build support.
The energy industry, which has large and growing com-
er planning, design, engineering and training during construction and operations.
Among the recommendations are using electric motors to reduce noise and emissions, installing barriers to control erosion, planting native vegetation and limiting construction activities during breeding periods.
Located along the Brownsville Ship Channel and next to the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, the proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal is inside a migratory corridor between the United States and Mexico for the ocelot, jaguarundi and aplomado falcon.
Although the effects can be mitigated for Texas LNG as a single project, FERC officials warned the combined impact of traffic, light and noise created by Texas LNG, two similar export terminals, pipelines and wind farms in the area would fragment habitat for the three endangered species and put them at further risk for fatal accidents with vehicles and equipment.
“We have determined that cumulative impacts on ocelots and jaguarundis would be permanent and significant,” FERC officials wrote about combined impacts of all the projects.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas LNG has sought permission from FERC to build a liquefied natural gas plant along the Brownsville Ship Channel since March 2016. The completion of the environmental review is an important step toward final approval of the project
A final permit decision is not expected until June, but if approved, the facility would export up to 4 million metric tons of LNG per year.
In a statement, Texas LNG Founder and Chief Operating Officer Langtry Meyer said the report is favorable to the company.
Texas LNG was the first of three proposed liquefied natural gas projects to file federal permit applications to build a export terminal in the Rio Grande Valley waterway.
“The receipt of the FERC approval is one of the important steps to allow the project to begin construction and commence LNG production by 2024,” Meyer said. “This project will bring jobs and investment to Cameron County and deliver clean, safe, abundant Texas natural gas energy to the world."
Texas LNG and the other liquefied natural gas export terminals face stiff opposition from a coalition of shrimpers, fishermen, environmentalists, neighbors and communities working under the banner Save RGV From LNG.
Coalition members filed more than 900 comments against Texas LNG while more than four dozen of them spoke against the project during a November public hearing in Port Isabel.
In January, FERC officials granted Save RGV From LNG legal status to challenge Texas LNG’s application in the federal permitting process.
“If permitted and built, the Texas LNG and the two other proposed LNG export terminals would be an environmental disaster for the Rio Grande Valley,” Sierra Club organizer Rebekah Hinojosa said in a statement. “The LNG terminals would turn our pristine coastline into a network of industrial processing plants with flammable pipelines, towering storage tanks, flare stacks, and massive tanker ships.
FERC officials estimate that if approved, the Texas LNG export terminal would receive 74 liquefied natural gas tankers a year. If all three LNG projects at the Port of Brownsville are approved, the agency estimates that they would bring a combined 511 tankers a year.
With the United States poised to become a net energy exporter next year, Steve Everley, a spokesman for the industry-financed group Texans For Natural Gas , said that if approved and built, the Brownsville projects and others would ensure that the U.S. remains a global energy superpower for decades to come.
“FERC’s conclusions on Texas LNG demonstrate that we don’t have to make a choice between the environment and energy development,” Everley said. “Natural gas exported from Texas will help countries around the world reduce air pollution and deliver power to people who desperately need access.”