Today we celebrate a historic victory. A groundswell of advocacy, led by frontline leaders in the Gulf South and young people across the nation, has successfully resulted in the Biden Administration temporarily halting all pending decisions on new Liquefied “Natural” Gas (LNG) Export Terminals—17 total projects across the Gulf South including the massive proposed CP2 facility. The Administration stated, “current economic and environmental analyses DOE uses to underpin its LNG export authorizations are roughly five years old and no longer adequately account for considerations like potential energy cost increases for American consumers and manufacturers beyond current authorizations or the latest assessment of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Beyond destroying our climate and locking us into decades of methane emissions, these LNG export terminals are destroying communities across the Gulf South—releasing dangerous pollutants that can lead to heart disease, cancer, and other public health problems. Today we stand in triumph alongside Gulf South communities and young people like Kami whose voices are finally being heard: The Gulf is Not a Sacrifice Zone.

While this fight is far from over, ACE is celebrating the last several years of work we’ve contributed to this movement alongside frontline leaders who have been fighting this battle for many years, young people, and the broader climate movement to achieve this win: 

• Engaged our 75,000+ Youth Action Network members in Texas and Louisiana to send the Administration a clear message: young people demand an end to the rampant, irresponsible expansion of LNG export terminals across the Gulf South.
• Reached more than 30 million people with our campaigns to #StopCP2, advocate toward the G7 to walk back pro-LNG rhetoric, and educate the administration on the impact that LNG export expansion has on our energy prices in the US for consumers already struggling to make ends meet: 
  • Example content: 4 Things We Don’t Like to Hear | Biden and G7: Just Say No | LNG True or False | Kami’s Story from Louisiana | Louisiana CP2 Impacts | Luke Saves the Planet | Biden: Break Up With LNG | LNG Winter Is Coming |  Why Home Gas Prices Are Increasing | Make Your Voice Heard: Stop LNG 
• Wrote and placed op-eds from ACE youth leaders and staff to create surround sound for our leaders.
• Mobilized our youth network to march with the Permian Gulf Coast Coalition (PGCC) to protest the Americas Energy Summit & Exhibition in New Orleans—a gathering of 3,500 oil and gas executives to strategize the continued proliferation of LNG export in the Gulf Coast.
• Generated more than 12,500 petition signatures from youth voters to the White House—part of a movement delivery of more than 350,000 signatures to #StopCP2.

This historic win—while only temporary for now—breathes new life into our collective work and gives me hope. Together, we move forward in solidarity as one movement to make sure our leaders know: The Gulf is Not A Sacrifice Zone. 

Onward,

Leah Qusba
Executive Director, Action for the Climate Emergency