Fifth Circuit Clears Deepwater Natural Gas Port, Tosses Challenge by Climate Activist Groups

[Elderberry]

Texas Scorecard  by Travis Morgan July 15, 2026

The ruling is being touted as a win for President Trump’s energy agenda.

A federal appellate court has cleared the way for the Delfin LNG deepwater port in the Gulf of America, rejecting a legal challenge by three left-wing environmental organizations. The groups had sought to vacate the project’s federal license.

The organizations failed to demonstrate that a single one of their members had suffered or faced an injury traceable to the project. The ruling is being touted as a win for President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda.

Background

Delfin Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) had proposed a project to build a deepwater port in the Gulf of America. The port would feature a cluster of floating vessels moored miles offshore, liquefying natural gas and loading it onto tankers bound overseas.

The company asked the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard for approval.

In compliance with the Deepwater Port Act (DPA), MARAD notified Texas and Louisiana—as adjacent states—so their governors could approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve the project. Neither governor responded.

MARAD then published five federal register notices, held six public hearings in the two states, invited public comment four times, and prepared a 2016 environmental impact statement (EIS) exceeding 1,800 pages—analyzing the project’s effects on the environment, socioeconomics, transportation, and air quality.

In 2017, MARAD approved Delfin’s application and tentatively authorized issuance of a license once Delfin satisfied several additional conditions. This decision was never challenged.

More: https://texasscorecard.com/federal/fifth-circuit-clears-deepwater-natural-gas-port-tosses-challenge-by-climate-activist-groups/

[Smokin Joe]

Good. Sell it to the highest bidder (who isn't an enemy).

[Bigun]