Democratic Lawmakers Support Biden’s LNG Permit Pause

Almost 75 Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday expressed support for President Joe Biden’s decision to pause approvals for new LNG export projects.

“With our allies well-supplied by existing exports, we agree that now is the time to step back and examine the long-term impacts that additional U.S. LNG exports will have on American consumers, industries, and the environment,” the Democratic Senators and Representatives wrote in a letter to President Biden, carried by Reuters.

“This is an overdue opportunity to examine whether the LNG export boom creates value for the American people or, as we suspect, results in harm while primarily benefiting oil and gas companies that want to ship American LNG overseas for higher profits,” says the letter led by Senators Jeffrey Merkley and Edward Markey and Representative Jared Huffman.  

At the end of January, the Biden Administration said it was pausing all pending decisions on U.S. LNG export projects until the Department of Energy can update the underlying analyses for authorizations.

During the temporary pause – which is expected to affect four planned LNG export projects – DOE will carry out a new updated review on the impact of such projects on health and communities. 

The American Petroleum Institute (API) and other major industry groups, including the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), Center for LNG (CLNG), Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), and LNG Allies, among others, slammed the Biden Administration’s decision to halt export project approvals.

“Moving forward with a pause on new U.S. LNG export approvals would only bolster Russian influence and undercut President Biden’s own commitment to supply our allies with reliable energy, undermining American credibility and threatening American jobs,” the groups have written in a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.    

Separately, in a legal filing submitted to DOE, API has argued the pause is unlawful, violating both the Natural Gas Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, and that it erodes America’s energy advantage by threatening U.S. jobs, national security and environmental progress.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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