The Freeport LNG terminal in Quintana along the Texas Gulf Coast – one of the world’s biggest suppliers of liquid methane gas – is shut down for at least 3 weeks following an explosion and fire that shook nearby buildings and scared local residents. “It makes me feel like we are daily living with high risk of explosion, release of gas, (and) public health issues,” Melanie Oldham, a physical therapist and co-founder of Citizens for Clean Air and Clean Water of Freeport and Brazoria County told the Associated Press. “We don’t know what could have been released into the air or even the water.”
The incident report filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found that the explosion led to more emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds. The shutdown will likely take 1 million tonnes of LNG off the market, which is forecast to especially impact Europe where an energy crisis looms as the bloc tries to wean itself off Russian-produced fossil fuels. European methane gas prices are trading up to a fifth higher and U.S. methane gas inventories remain nearly 15 percent below the five-year average for this time of year. (AP, CNN, Reuters, Washington Post $, Wall Street Journal $, Bloomberg $ Offshore Energy, Common Dreams, The Guardian)