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Home › Dodgy Deals ›
Dodgy Deal
Annova LNG TerminalUnited States

Project – On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date
Profile by:
BankTrack & Rainforest Action Network
Contact:

Alison Kirsch, Climate and Energy Program and Research Coordinator, Rainforest Action Network

Last update: 2021-03-25 09:11:43
Annova LNG export terminal would be located close to Bahia Grande wetlands. Photo: Rainforest Action Network et al - 2019 fracked gas-terminals report

Project – On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date
Profile by:
BankTrack & Rainforest Action Network
Contact:

Alison Kirsch, Climate and Energy Program and Research Coordinator, Rainforest Action Network

Last update: 2021-03-25 09:11:43
Why this profile?

Why this profile?

The proposed Annova LNG terminal would be located close to coastal wetlands and threaten the Bahia Grande area of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife refuge, where wetland restoration is still ongoing.

What must happen

In general LNG export terminals are capital-intensive, financially risky and environmentally destructive. Financial institutions involved in these projects share responsibility for the impacts of these facilities. These impacts span people and ecosystems across the continent: communities around the terminal site, communities at the point of extraction and communities along the pipeline routes.

By financing practices that are incompatible with a climate-stable future, the financial institutions involved threaten the global agreement to address climate change. Therefore, banks involved should withdraw their commitment to this project.

About
Sectors LNG Terminal
Location
Status
Cancelled
Design
Agreement
Construction
Operation
Closure
Decommission
Website http://annovalng.com/

In the port of Brownsville in Texas, Exelon is planning to build the Annova LNG export terminal. If built, the LNG terminal would sit beside the Brownsville Ship Channel and require 650 acres of land. The proposed site is about eight miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The facility would be operational by 2022 and is expected to export 6.5 million tonnes yearly. The project is estimated to cost USD 3 billion. Next to this LNG Terminal, there are two other terminals planned to be constructed in the Port of Brownsville (Texas LNG and Rio Grande LNG).

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

The public health impacts of climate change in U.S. Gulf Coast states—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida—may be especially severe and further exacerbated by a range of threats facing the coastline areas, including severe erosion, subsidence, and—given the amount of energy production infrastructure—the ever-present potential for large-scale industrial accidents. The Gulf Coast population is expected to reach over 74 million by 2030 with a growing number of people living along the coastlines. Populations in the region that are already vulnerable because of economic or other disparities may face additional risks to health and well-being as a consequence of a changing climate, creating new levels of concern for political and public health leaders.

Communities that would feel the negative impacts of the LNG terminals are often low-income people of colour. The Annova LNG terminal will be located between the Laguna Madre communities and next to Brownsville, a rural community that is 93 percent Hispanic or Latino. More than 35 percent of the Rio Grande Valley's residents live in poverty, the highest rate of any metropolitan area in the United States. Already this region struggles with major health issues. These projects would add thousands of tons of pollutants into the air. Across the United States nearly 1.78 million Latinos already live in areas that face a cancer risk above the EPA's level of concern from toxins emitted by oil and gas facilities. Industrial ozone smog burdens Latino communities with 153,000 childhood asthma attacks and 112,000 lost school days each year.

If built, this LNG terminal could significantly impact the local fishing, shrimping and ecotourism industries. Nearby South Padre Island could have its beauty and its economy compromised by the release of effluent water, and the brown haze that would come with the thousands of tons of air pollution.

In the Rio Grande Valley, nature tourism alone leads to 6,600 jobs. In contrast, an LNG terminal creates mostly temporary construction jobs and only a few hundred permanent ones.

For more information on the gendered and racial impacts of the fossil fuel industry in North America, including this LNG terminal, see WECAN's 2021 report "Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and Complicit Financial Institutions". 


Environmental and climate impacts

The terminal is proposed right on the edge of what the US Fish and Wildlife Service calls "one of the largest and most succesful coastal wetland restoration projects in the US": the Bahia Grande unit of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife refuge, where wetland restoration is still ongoing. The 21,700 acre refuge is a safe haven for a range of species and native vegetation, as well as a crucial storm barrier. Endangered ocelots and Aplomado falcons roam this area. As of August 2015 only 53 ocelots were left in Texas, all in this area of the state. Construction, bright lights, tall structures, air pollution and wastewater will fundamentally alter the ecosystem of the area.

With these three terminals (Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG and Annova LNG) exporting at full capacity, burning just one year's worth of the gas exported from Brownsville would create greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of 30 coal-fired power plants. Accounting for extracting, piping, liquefying and shipping the gas nearly doubles the carbon intensity of energy produced from RGV's exported LNG. LNG is the most carbon-intensive form of natural gas.

Financiers

In May 2016 Annova LNG's parent company Exelon extended its revolving credit facility, financed by thirty financial institutions, to USD 600 million (maturing in May 2021). See below for details on financial institutions involved.

Institution type
Finance type
Year
Companies

Annova LNG is a 100 percent subsidiary of US energy company Exelon.

Project sponsor

Exelon

United States
Website
Owner of Annova LNG
No companies

Other companies

Annova LNG

United States
Website

Bowie Resources

United States
Website

Enbridge

Canada
Profile
Website
No companies
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Climate & frontline groups demand banks, insurance, & private equity end LNG backing

Over 100 climate and frontline groups wrote to the finance industry to stop its LNG support
2024-02-05 | The Sunrise Project
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Rio Grande Valley: at risk from fracked gas terminals

Big banks step away
2022-10-18 | Rainforest Action Network
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New report details the gendered and racial impacts of the fossil fuel industry in North America and complicit financial institutions

2021-04-14 | San Francisco Bay Area, California | WECAN
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Plans for Annova LNG Fracked Gas Export Terminal Ditched

2021-03-22 | Sierra Club
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Lawsuits challenge approval of Rio Grande and Annova fracked gas export facilities in Texas for harm to endangered ocelot

US FWS violated the Endangered Species Act, putting ocelot at risk of extinction
2020-04-20 | New Orleans | Sierra Club, Sierra Club
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Banking on Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2020

New report reveals global banks funneled USD 2.7 trillion into fossil fuels Since Paris Climate Agreement, with financing on the rise each year 
2020-03-18 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

FERC denies rehearing of Texas LNG Brownsville and Annova LNG Brownsville Project Authorizations

2020-02-21 | Lexology.com
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Opponents of Texas Port LNG terminals inch closer to lawsuit

2020-01-27 | Ttnews.com
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Annova LNG and Enbridge Sign Pipeline Agreement

2020-01-22 | Annova LNG press release
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Rio Grande Valley: Big banks urged not to back high risk fracked-gas export terminals

2019-08-14 | BankTrack
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

New Report: Banks and Investors Should Avoid Supporting Rio Grande Valley LNG Projects

Three proposed fracked gas export terminals would pose reputational risks for financial institutions
2019-07-10 | Rainforest Action Network
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Looming LNG Pipeline Construction Raising Concerns for Tourism Businesses

2017-12-12 | Rio Grande Valley, Texas | Channel 5 News
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

BNP Paribas takes further measures to accelerate its support of the energy transition

BNP Paribas will no longer finance LNG terminals that predominantly liquefy and export gas from shale
2017-10-11 | BNP Paribas
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

I Followed LNG’s Financial Backers All The Way to Paris, France

2017-03-31 | Sierra Club
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Commentary: RGV native lands threatened by LNGs

2017-02-20 | The Monitor
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

RAN: Texas Rio Grande Valley Under Threat from Natural Gas

2016-10-31 | TriplePundit
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Once Again, School District Shuts Down Tax Break for Gas Exporter

2016-09-22 | The Texas Observer
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Annova Makes It Official With FERC - Seeks LNG for the Valley

2016-07-15 | Sierra Club
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Second wave of Texas LNG export projects could take off in the next decade

2016-06-27 | The Houston Chronicle
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Island council mulls LNG

2015-09-02 | The Brownsville Herald
Resources
Documents
Images
Links
2023-09-20 00:00:00

Gendered and racial impacts of the fossil fuel industry in North America and complicit financial institutions

NGO document
2023-09-20 00:00:00 | WECAN
2022-10-01 00:00:00

Rio Grande Valley: At Risk From Fracked-Gas Exports 2022 Update

NGO document
2022-10-01 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network, Les Amis de la Terre, Save RGV, Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas
2021-06-24 00:00:00

Nervous Money: Global LNG Terminals Update 2021

NGO document
2021-06-24 00:00:00 | Global Energy Monitor
2021-04-14 00:00:00

Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and Complicit Financial Institutions

A Call to Action for the Health of our Communities and Nature in the Climate Crisis
NGO document
2021-04-14 00:00:00 | WECAN
2021-03-25 00:00:00

Shrimpers and Fisherman for RGV request for analysis of whether Annova LNG's cancellation frees capacity on the Valley Crossing Pipeline that could be used in lieu of a second Rio Bravo pipeline Under CP20-481 et. al

NGO document
2021-03-25 00:00:00 | Sierra Club
2021-03-22 00:00:00

Media Statement on Annova LNG Project

Company document
2021-03-22 00:00:00 | Annova LNG
2019-06-30 00:00:00

Exelon csr report 2018

Annual report
2019-06-30 00:00:00 | Exelon
2020-02-25 00:00:00

Exelon annual report 2019

Annual report
2020-02-25 00:00:00 | Exelon
2016-05-26 00:00:00

Exelon credit facility 8-K form, May 2016

Other document
2016-05-26 00:00:00 | US Securities & Exchange Commission
2016-10-01 00:00:00

Rio Grande Valley: At Risk from Fracked-Gas Export Terminals

NGO document
2016-10-01 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network
2017-07-19 00:00:00

FERC project update on Annova LNG Brownsville project

Other document
2017-07-19 00:00:00 | FERC
2016-11-06 00:00:00

A bridge to nowhere

The climate, human rights & financial risks of liquified natural gas export
NGO document
2016-11-06 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network

RGV LNG export terminals sites

2016-11-08

The Annova LNG Brownsville project overview

Website by Annova, overview of LNG Brownsville project

Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club

Campaign Facebook page of Sierra Club

Global Energy Monitor profile on Annova LNG Brownsville terminal

Updates

2021

2021-03-22 00:00:00 | Annova LNG project cancelled

On 22 March 2021, Annova announced the “immediate discontinuation” of the 6.5 million metric tons/year (mmty) export project in a letter filed Monday with FERC. The letter asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to vacate the project’s authorization. (Natural Gas Intelligence). Annova LNG, backed by Exelon, Black and Veatch, Enbridge, and Kiewit Energy group, was one of three fracked gas export terminals proposed for the Rio Grande Valley. If built, Annova LNG would have destroyed wetlands, blocked a wildlife corridor threatening the survival of endangered wildlife, and put communities needlessly at risk. (Sierra Club)

2020

2020-04-20 00:00:00 | Lawsuits challenge approval of Rio Grande and Annova fracked gas export facilities in Texas for harm to endangered Ocelot

Today, environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) approval of the massive Annova LNG fracked gas export terminal proposed for southern Texas. The suit was filed in conjunction to one the groups filed last week challenging the Rio Grande fracked gas export facility proposed for the same area. These projects threaten to contribute to the extinction of the endangered ocelot in the U.S.

2019

2019-11-22 00:00:00 | FERC authorizes Annova LNG project

Annova LNG received its FERC authorization from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate its mid-sized liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility located in Brownsville, Texas (Annova LNG press release).

2019-04-19 00:00:00 | Annova LNG receives final Environmental Impact Statement from FERC

Annova LNG received its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Annova LNG press release).

2017

2017-08-01 00:00:00 | Final Investment Decision expected in Q2 2018

According to AnnovaLNG the Final Investment Decision is expected in early 2018, depending also on FERC approval (source AnnovaLNG).

2016

2016-11-01 00:00:00 | FERC requests analysis of risks associated with the proximity of SpaceX launch pad

Federal Energy Regulatory Commision (FERC) has requested that the companies behind three proposed LNG terminals hire external experts to determine the risks of having the SpaceX launch pad nearby, in case of a failed launch. This request comes after a failed rocket launch on September 1st, during which a rocket exploded. FERC has deemed the additional information necessary to complete the Environmental Impact Statement.

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