The multibillion-dollar Magnolia LNG project will have limited adverse environmental impacts, according to a draft environmental impact statement released last week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The report’s executive summary says those environmental impacts “would be reduced to less-than-significant levels” with Magnolia following 30 mitigation measures proposed by FERC.

Ernie Megginson, Magnolia’s vice president of project management, said Tuesday that this is first time FERC has publicly stated its view of the project.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster,” he said of the draft statement. “We want to ensure there’s nothing that FERC would see that would cause a problem, and there isn’t as long as we follow their mitigations.”

Megginson said Magnolia has worked with FERC for more than two years, helping the commission to evaluate the project’s environmental impact. Magnolia submitted its final resource report in April 2014, and it spent the past year responding to a series of questions from FERC that dealt with the project’s environmental, reliability and safety aspects.

Now that the draft environmental impact statement has been released, Megginson said a public comment period will continue until Sept. 8. He said FERC has committed to issuing its final environmental impact statement by Nov. 16.

“That means FERC has exhausted its efforts to evaluate the project,” he said.

The final environmental statement will be sent to five FERC commissioners for final approval — which Megginson said could happen around mid-January. The commissioners will then issue a FERC order that authorizes the project for construction.

Magnolia then has to submit implementation plans to FERC, along with detailed design information. After that, FERC can give a notice to proceed with site clearing and site preparation. That is expected to occur in February.

The $3.5 billion Magnolia project will include four LNG trains, built on 120 acres near the intersection of Henry Pugh Boulevard and Big Lake Road. Each train will produce 2 million tons per year of LNG for export. The project could produce about 1,000 construction jobs, 70 permanent jobs and 175 indirect jobs.

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Online: www.magnolialng.com.

An artist’s rendition of the proposed Magnolia LNG plant. (Special to the American Press)