Dems tell DOE to reboot LNG export reviews
The Department of Energy should update how it decides whether licenses for natural gas export projects are in the public interest, more than 60 Democratic lawmakers told the agency in a letter Tuesday. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and others said DOE is assessing proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects using “outdated and insufficient methods of measuring climate impacts.” They urged the department to develop an approach that’s informed by “updated climate and economic analyses.”
The members of Congress also pointed to the issue of environmental justice, or the effort to ensure that minority, low-income and rural populations no longer bear disproportionate costs of pollution.
Proposed LNG projects remain a flashpoint in an ongoing debate over U.S. energy production and efforts to reduce climate-warming emissions from fossil fuels. “We are concerned that DOE’s current approach does not fully or accurately consider how LNG exports negatively impact the climate, environmental justice communities, or increase domestic energy prices,” the lawmakers said in their letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The letter, which noted how U.S. LNG exports have surged in recent years, said DOE’s current “case-by-case” approach ignores the combined effect of shipments on the climate, economy and American public.
This week, DOE’s statistical arm said North American export capacity for LNG is expected to more than double through the end of 2027. On Tuesday, at least one environmental group cheered the letter from Democrats. “Members of Congress are delivering a strong message to the Biden administration’s Department of Energy: DOE cannot credibly determine if LNG exports are in the public’s best interest if it has never released a transparent, consistent, and scientifically sound approach for those decisions,” said Chris Espinosa, legislative director for climate and energy at Earthjustice, in a statement. Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, pointed to the "pivotal role" LNG has played amid Russia's war against Ukraine, which began in February 2022. LNG export capacity from North America is surging "because LNG exports play a vital role in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions," Riedl said in a statement Tuesday. "Changing the permitting process or bowing to political pressures would put billions of dollars of investment at stake at a time when the world is searching for reliable energy supply." Riedl said coal is a dirtier fuel than natural gas.
Some Democrats, however, have pointed to a forthcoming paper that argues the opposite when it comes to LNG. ...
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By: Carlos Anchondo
Source: Energy Wire
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