"A Cameron Parish judge has ruled that state officials violated the Louisiana Constitution when they issued a permit for a liquified gas export terminal, which has halted construction on the facility. 

The decision, reached Friday, found that the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy (formerly Energy and Natural Resources) failed to consider the environmental impacts on surrounding communities when it approved a permit for the Commonwealth LNG export facility. 

The halted Commonwealth facility is one of six LNG export projects proposed, approved or operating along Cameron’s coast. Construction of the pipelines, storage tanks and shipping facilities that make up the facility would dig up or fill nearly 200 acres of wetlands and water bottoms, according to the project’s coastal use permit application.

Judge Penelope Richard cited the close vicinity of other export terminals as a factor in her decision, saying the state “failed to consider the secondary and cumulative impacts” of these facilities on climate change in the coastal zone."

Elise Plunk reports for the Louisiana Illuminator October 15, 2025. [2]