All operational US liquefied natural gas terminals have violated pollution limits, says report | US news

Every fully operational liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the United States has violated federal pollution limits in recent years, according to a new report.

The analysis of public records comes as the Trump administration aims to speed up approval of new export terminals in an effort to sell more domestic LNG in Europe and Asia. Joe Biden had previously imposed a pause on LNG exports, which Donald Trump lifted on the first day of his return to power.

“The LNG industry presents itself as environmentally friendly, but companies consistently fail to comply with air and water pollution control laws that LNG terminals must follow,” said the report from the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit research organization.

The Guardian has contacted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for comment.

The United States has been the world’s largest LNG exporter since 2023. The US president aims to further boost exports, including by ordering agencies to speed up approval of new terminals and threatening foreign countries with high tariffs if they refuse to buy LNG from the United States.

As of late last year, seven U.S. LNG export terminals were fully operational: three in Louisiana, two in Texas, one in Maryland and one in Georgia.

Between October 2022 and July 2025, these seven terminals were not in compliance with the Clean Air Act for at least one quarter, according to analysis of EPA and state government data.

“Given the LNG industry’s poor compliance record, state and federal agencies should slow down and more carefully review new permit applications instead of rushing through permit reviews,” said Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project.

Some factories were in violation more often than others. The most frequent violators, the Sabine Pass and Calcasieu Pass terminals, both located in Cameron, Louisiana, have failed to meet certain air pollution standards under the Clean Air Act since 2022.

But the greatest number of enforcement actions – and the highest financial penalties – were imposed against the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas, which experienced a major explosion in June 2022 that forced the facility to close for eight months. State and federal regulators assessed $493,804 in penalties against the plant after the explosion, and the facility received an additional $175,800 in fines over the previous two years.

Five of the seven LNG export terminals were also non-compliant with the Clean Water Act during the same period, with four of the terminals violating the regulations for at least two quarters between April 2022 and July 2025.

In some cases, the violations involved the proven release of illegal amounts of bacteria, zinc, oil and other pollutants into waterways. In other cases, terminal managers have not submitted their river discharge monitoring reports. Cove Point LNG in Maryland, for example, has an active wastewater permit, but the facility has not filed reports on its wastewater discharges since 2017, the report said.

The study shows that export terminals regularly violate key environmental protection laws, the authors say.

“These findings are absolutely not surprising to anyone who has spent time near these facilities,” said Anne Rolfes, executive director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which opposes fossil fuel construction.

Despite this evidence, managers of three of the most troubled LNG terminals are seeking approval for major expansions in the coming years.

Among them are Sabine Pass and Cameron LNG, both in Louisiana, which failed to comply with the Clean Air Act for 12 and 11 of the last 12 quarters, respectively, and Corpus Christi LNG, Texas, which had nine water pollution violations in the last five years.

Venture Global, the company behind the Calcasieu Pass terminal in Louisiana — which has also been out of compliance with the Clean Air Act every quarter for three years — also plans to build two new LNG terminals nearby.

“The consequences of allowing Venture Global to build them could be devastating,” Rolfes said.

The Guardian has contacted Venture Global for comment.

In addition to the planned expansions and new terminals, four new LNG terminals are already under construction, three in Texas and one in Louisiana. An expansion of the Elba liquefaction terminal in Georgia is also underway.

These five projects are already on track to increase the country’s LNG exports from the United States by 60% annually and create more opportunities to put communities at risk. And the companies also proposed 28 other projects – 19 new export terminals and nine expansions of existing facilities – that could further threaten health.

Rapid growth in the LNG industry is also likely to hurt consumers, the authors of the new report say, citing a Biden-era Department of Energy study that found that increased LNG exports would cause domestic natural gas prices for Americans to rise by more than 30%.

These expansions will also harm the climate. Exported LNG emits far more greenhouse gas emissions than coal, although the fossil fuel industry claims it is a cleaner alternative, according to a major study last year.

“In a sane world, we would immediately stop permitting any gas export facilities,” Rolfes said.