All this time the real culprit in the recent delays has been MARAD!!! We saw that the everything was fully permitted and approved but I missed the follow up that approval didn't mean GO until the license for the Deep-Water Port was issued. As the report details and some copied below, Delfin has been at MARAD for YEARS now trying to satisfy all of the numerous conditions for issuance.
Also, to Jerry's point, I never took an interest in MARAD and didn't realize their parent is the Department of Transportation, headed by non-other than that totally incompetent Mayor, Pothole Pete.
Below are cuts from the March 1st DOE submission. Read the original to truly understand how much is involved on the part of Delfin. Also, in the report Delfin indicates that the earliest it can be fully operational is 2029 and not before, based on SHI and time to construct.
The delay in Delfin’s FID from 2023 into 2024 resulted from regulatory delay.
C. The Quest for Final License Issuance By MARAD DOE summarized the MARAD DWP license process for Delfin when issuing its non-FTA authorization.
For MARAD, another regulatory step was needed: final license issuance. Unfortunately, that step has been more complex and time-consuming than could possibly have been anticipated, even though made challenging by the fact that MARAD has not issued any final DWPA licenses since the heyday of U.S. LNG imports.
Delfin has been diligently pursing its final license for nearly two years now. On April 11, 2022, Delfin provided MARAD and the USCG with a written summary of the current status of its project, and then participated in a virtual meeting with the agencies on May 10, 2022.
In summary, for much of the past year, Delfin has been hoping and expecting its final license to be issued by MARAD, and has done everything it can devise to further that goal. Unfortunately, MARAD’s final license issuance process – uniquely applicable to Delfin among all LNG export projects with non-FTA authorization – is clearly outside of Delfin’s control. Delfin still expects MARAD to issue its final license soon.