CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is co-leading a coalition of 22 states in a letter urging President Joe Biden and the secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy to end the administration’s pause on exports of liquefied natural gas.
Last month, Biden said new approvals of liquefied natural gas exports would be paused.
“This administration is going full-throttle on its attack on America’s energy industry just to further Biden’s woke climate change agenda,” Morrisey said. “The Energy Department has no such authority — authority on matters like this lies with Congress and Congress alone.”
On February 6, the House Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee held the first of two Congressional hearings this week on the issue of approvals of exports of liquefied natural gas.
On January 26, the Biden administration said it was pausing approvals for new exports from liquefied natural gas projects indefinitely so it could take a “hard look’ and the environmental and economic impact of the increased shipments. Leaders of other industries – such as chemicals, steel, food and agriculture – claim such unrestricted exports of liquefied natural gas could raise fuel prices and damage the domestic supply of LNG.
The coalition says international trade in liquefied natural gas has spiked in part because of the abundant natural gas resources in the United States. In its letter, the coalition points out the U.S. is the world leader in natural gas production and became the top exporter of liquefied natural gas in 2023 by exporting 86 million metric tons. It says there are also nearly 187 million Americans using natural gas that support more than four million jobs.
“Beyond being unlawful, this ‘pause’ unnecessarily harms our economy,” the coalition’s letter states. “Our nation’s abundant supply of LNG insulates U.S. consumers from the increasing global energy instability while at the same time advancing U.S. national interests and ensuring the energy security for U.S. allies. …
“Cutting [those allies] off from American LNG will not decrease that need; it will force them to turn to other sources. Russia is more than ready to fill the void. Not long ago, you celebrated the delivery of American gas to Europe as a ‘key geopolitical weapon’ against Putin. Now, this pause effectively funds Russia’s war in Ukraine and its destabilization efforts in Europe and Asia.”
The February 6 House subcommittee hearing featured EQT CEO Toby Rice. EQT is the country’s largest producer of natural gas. The Senate Energy Committee, chaired by Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has a hearing scheduled February 8 with Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary David Turk.
Pennsylvania’s two Democratic Senators – Bob Casey and John Fetterman – have said they would ask for the pause to be reversed if it puts jobs at risk. And Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) recently introduced legislation to strip the Department of Energy of the authority to approve LNG exports. That would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the sole power in the LNG approval process.
West Virginia, Kansas, Indiana and Louisiana led the letter which also is signed by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.