(Headline USA) The Biden administration is delaying consideration of new natural gas export terminals in the United States, even as gas shipments to Europe and Asia have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The election year decision by President Joe Biden aligns with environmentalists who fear the huge increase in exports, in the form of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is locking in potentially catastrophic planet-warming emissions.
The current economic and environmental analyses the Energy Department uses to evaluate LNG projects don’t adequately account for potential cost hikes for American consumers and manufacturers or the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, the White House said.
Industry groups condemned the pause as a “win for Russia.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the pause will not affect already authorized export projects and noted that U.S. gas exports reached record highs last year.
She and other officials declined to say how long the permitting pause will last, but said a study of how proposed LNG projects will affect the environment, the economy and national security will take “some months.” A public comment period after that will likely delay any decisions on pending LNG projects until after the 2024 presidential election.
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas began less than a decade ago, but have grown rapidly in recent years to the point that the U.S. has become the world’s largest gas exporter. Exports rose sharply after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Biden and Granholm have celebrated the delivery of U.S. gas to Europe and Asia as a key geopolitical weapon against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, turned those comments against the Democratic administration as it condemned Biden’s action.
“This is a win for Russia and a loss for American allies, U.S. jobs and global climate progress,” said Mike Sommers, API’s president and CEO.
“There is no review needed to understand the clear benefits of U.S. LNG (exports) for stabilizing global energy markets, supporting thousands of American jobs and reducing emissions around the world by transitioning countries toward cleaner fuels” and away from coal, Sommers said in a statement.
Biden’s action “is nothing more than a broken promise to U.S. allies, and it’s time for the administration to stop playing politics with global energy security,” he said.
Shaylyn Hynes, spokeswoman for the project’s owner, Virginia-based Venture Global, said the Biden administration “continues to create uncertainty about whether our allies can rely on U.S. LNG for their energy security.”
A prolonged pause on LNG exports “would shock the global energy market … and send a devastating signal to our allies that they can no longer rely on the United States,” said Hynes, who served as an Energy Department spokeswoman in the Trump administration.
“The true irony is this policy would hurt the climate and lead to increased (greenhouse gas) emissions, as it would force the world to pivot to coal” instead of natural gas, Hynes said.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
