President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday rescinding former President Joe Biden’s policy of allowing new gas export facilities.
The move is largely symbolic, but as expected, it signals that the new administration plans to reject a recently released federal study that found that increasing overseas sales risks raising prices for Americans.
In January, Biden suspended new federal permits for export terminals designed to ship liquefied natural gas (a version of methane fuel that has been supercooled into liquid form for easier transport by tanker), and the Energy Department announced that it would allow shipments of U.S. natural gas. Studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of increases. The availability of gas to international buyers has already exceeded historical levels.
Because the policy only affected new uses, new LNG projects under construction, enough to double U.S. export capacity by 2028, were allowed to continue.
America until April arched It overtook Qatar and Australia to reclaim its position as the world’s No. 1 LNG exporter. Last July, a federal judge stopped The Biden administration pauses. By September, federal agencies had resumed permitting for new LNG terminals.
Last month, the Department of Energy announced the results of its investigation. The results paint a grim picture of what could happen if LNG exports more than double over the next decade. With so much U.S. gas headed to buyers in Asia and Europe, domestic prices will rise and so will global heating emissions.
Methane, the main component of natural gas, does not stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, but the greenhouse gas nonetheless traps much more heat during the first few decades of its cycle in Earth’s gaseous outer layer.
Trump’s move to lift the moratorium on LNG permits, although no longer in effect, is a sign that his administration will reject research by the Department of Energy’s nonpartisan career scientists.
After the study was published, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, a trade association representing U.S. manufacturers, urged Congress to maintain restrictions on LNG exports to maintain affordability.
we will not back down
Support HuffPost
Already participated? Please log in to hide this message.
research, published The report, released Dec. 17, will be subject to a 60-day comment period, which will give the new administration control over whether the findings remain on the federal books.
At his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Chris Wright, President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Energy, dismissed concerns about rising LNG export prices and argued that increased overseas sales would lead to increased domestic production.
In a call with reporters last week, the American Petroleum Institute, a leading lobbying group for the U.S. oil and gas industry, named eliminating the LNG moratorium as a top priority for the new administration.
