FERC on Wednesday issued the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG natural gas liquefaction and export project in Hackberry, LA. Final Commission approval is expected this summer with construction to begin later in the year, Sempra said.

Mitigation measures proposed by Sempra and additional actions proposed by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff would reduce the environmental impact of the project to levels that would be less than significant, the Commission said.

“The receipt of the final environmental impact statement today represents a significant milestone that moves our Cameron LNG liquefaction-export project another step closer to breaking ground later this year,” said Sempra LNG President Octavio M.S. Simoes.

FERC issued a draft environmental impact statement on the project in January (see Daily GPI, Jan. 10). In February Cameron received U.S. Department of Energy conditional approval to export LNG to countries that without free trade agreements with the United States (see Daily GPI, Feb. 11).

The proposed facility would use Cameron LNG’s existing import facilities, including two marine berths capable of accommodating tankers; three LNG storage tanks of 480,000 cubic meters and vaporization capability for regasification services of 1.5 Bcf/d. The facility is to have three liquefaction trains with a total export capability of about 1.7 Bcf/d, according to Sempra (see Daily GPI, Dec. 11, 2012). The facility would retain the capability to import LNG.