Cove Point LNG gets license, groups sue: UpdateOREANDA-NEWS.The US Department of Energy (DOE) today issued final export authorization to Dominion's Cove Point LNG project,the same day that environmental groups sued the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its approval of the project.

The DOE in September 2013 granted Cove Point conditional authorization to export up to 5.75mn t/yr of LNG, equivalent to 770mn cf/d (21.8mn m?/d) of gas, to countries that do not have free trade agreements (FTAs) with the US, a group that comprises most of the world's largest LNG-consuming nations by volume.

The DOE could not finalize the license until the FERC finalized its environmental approval of the project, which FERC did on 4 May by denying a rehearing of the construction authorization it issued on 29 September.

Environmental groups opposed to the project could not sue FERC until they exhausted all the agency's administrative remedies, which also occurred on 4 May.

Earthjustice sued FERC today in the federal appeals court for the DC circuit over the ruling. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Patuxent Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club, alleges that FERC violated federal law with an improperly narrow environmental review.

The lawsuit is not expected to slow the project as the groups are not seeking an injunction to halt construction.

"Time and again, FERC has shown a blatant disregard for the health and safety of people and climate and, we believe, the law," said Chesapeake Climate Action Network director Mike Tidwell.

FERC has said it fairly evaluated the potential impacts and Dominion has said the project would be safe.

Cove Point has been authorized to export up to a gas equivalent of 1 Bcf/d to FTA nations, but its peak capacity will be a gas equivalent of 770mn cf/d.

The delays in finalizing the licenses did not slow the project, as Dominion started some construction after FERC's 29 September decision. Cove Point is one of four LNG export projects being built in the contiguous US.

Cove Point is on budget and on schedule to become the second operating US LNG export facility in the contiguous US. It has an estimated cost of \$3.6bn-\$3.8bn and is scheduled to come on line in late 2017.

Dominion has contracted 2.3mn t/yr of liquefaction capacity for 20 years each to Indian state-owned gas utility Gail and a venture of Japanese trading house Sumitomo and utility Tokyo Gas. The two entities would equally share any excess production.