A “carbon mega bomb” – that’s what climate activists are calling a proposed liquefied natural gas, or LNG, export terminal in the U.S. state of Louisiana, a project that highlights the tension between growth, geopolitics and the environment.

The facility would be the biggest in the Gulf of Mexico, and one of the largest gas export hubs in the world – a major boon for the American economy that’d provide the country with leverage in the global energy market.

There are already seven export plants in service in the United States, used to condense piped natural gas into liquid to load onto barges and send out on ships across the planet.

One is in Cameron, a small town in Louisiana which has seen an exodus of its residents since the terminal’s construction. And with another LNG project there looming, those still in Cameron are feeling helpless.