NRDC to Congress: The Pause on New LNG Export Permits is Commonsense Move

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration’s recent pause on Department of Energy approvals of new LNG export permits is a sensible update, NRDC will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security, in a hearing convening today.  The pause will help the agency determine what is in the public interest, based on sound science and what our laws require.  The temporary hold on approvals, restricted to new export permits, will help the agency make sure it has the tools to determine whether it is in the public interest to lock in decades more LNG exports far into the future, NRDC senior attorney Gillian Giannetti will testify.

Following are excerpts from the testimony Gillian Giannetti, senior attorney for energy and climate for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) will deliver:

“Trying to assess 2024 LNG exports based on guidance developed for 1984 LNG imports is like trying to stream Netflix through a Betamax…. 

“This pause is a common-sense measure that all Americans should support, for their pocketbooks, for their health, for their security, and for their future.  DOE’s current export review process does not account for … critical public health and community harms.

“The Biden Administration’s short-term pause … does nothing to compromise the national security of the United States or our allies…. will not impact currently operating LNG export facilities, LNG facilities under construction, or those that already have their export permits that aren’t yet under construction….  

“Furthermore, the pause itself is subject to an express exception for unanticipated and immediate national security emergencies…. Given the serious and demonstrated economic and environmental impacts of further LNG expansion, this is a critical move to simultaneously respect our allies and to put the U.S. public interest front and center, exactly as the Natural Gas Act demands.”

LNG projects already approved and permitted are expected to nearly double U.S. exports by 2027, and this pause will not have any impact on that. It will affect industrial terminals that would not even come on stream until the end of this decade, at the earliest. Decisions about these future permits will affect the world we leave to our children and grandchildren, and could lock us into decades more LNG far into the future.  

“To those who would have the administration rush to judgment on a decision this important, we would simply ask, what is it, exactly, you are afraid the Department of Energy might learn from getting all the facts?” Giannetti asks.

Giannetti’s full testimony is available here.

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law, and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health, and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd). Visit us at http://www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.