A group of Republican senators are demanding that the Biden administration immediately resume liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, which they say is a “national security” matter related to whether Ukraine can rely on America to fuel its war.
The White House in January halted approving new licenses to export LNG to countries that lack Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with the United States, which make up the majority of the United States’ LNG importers.
The U.S. Department of Energy, tasked with permitting LNG export terminals, has yet to specify a timeframe for the suspension. Instead, it said the pause would last until the agency finished evaluating how the LNG shipments affect climate change, the economy, and national security.
“At a time when war is ongoing in Ukraine and tensions are rising in the Middle East and Asia, it is particularly important that allied nations can rely on the United States for a reliable, long-term fuel supply,” the Republicans wrote.
On top of that, the senators highlighted global LNG demand that’s expected to increase in the upcoming years. It would be against America’s interest to not carve up a chunk of that multi-billion-dollar against competitors like Russia and Iran, they argued.
“Global LNG demand is expected to increase to nearly 700 metric tonnes (MT) by 2040,” they wrote. “If the U.S. were allowed to fully develop its LNG capacity, the U.S. could reach 238 million MT by 2050, which would allow the U.S. to meet more than 30 percent of global demand for LNG.”
“Between 2016 and 2023, the value of exported U.S. LNG was $147 billion, adjusted for inflation,” the letter continued. “As the United States continues to run a significant trade deficit, we should not even consider limiting the export of a commodity that runs a trade surplus.”
While the United States is suspending LNG exports, its rivals are doing the opposite. Russia, for example, has extended the permit for LNG supplies to SEFE, a German state-owned energy group, until 2040. Germany also continues to engage with Qatar, which has a planned expansion of LNG production with a goal to control a quarter of the global supply by 2030.
“Without U.S. LNG exports, the energy crunch in Europe would be much worse,” the senators warned. “Yet Russia still supplies Europe with significant volumes of LNG, and Qatar is poised to win more of the European market. Therefore, a need still exists for greater U.S. LNG supplies not only in Europe, but elsewhere.”
Monday’s letter was hand delivered by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska). He was joined by Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), ranking member of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee; and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
The senators’ comments come the same day as House Republicans launched a second probe of the Biden administration’s decision to pause new LNG export approvals, questioning whether this was an attempt to boost President Biden’s popularity among progressive activists ahead of the election.
Specifically, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is looking for a trove of documents and communications between the Energy Department and key federal agencies, as well as White House Climate team members John Podesta and Ali Zaidi.
“The Biden Administration appears to be weaponizing DOE’s public interest analysis and the administrative state to prolong new LNG export project approvals at the behest of leftist environmental groups,” Republicans on the committee wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a letter led by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.). “The timing of the decision, in an election year, raises the likelihood that political motivations drove the action.”
