Quote of the Day: “The Department of Energy’s long-anticipated LNG export study shines a spotlight on the agency’s commitment to politics over sound policy. Not only does the study fail to recognize the critical support LNG provides to our European allies and its contributions to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, but it inaccurately fuels the notion that consumers will be hit with some huge price tag.
Despite record exports, Americans enjoy among the lowest residential natural gas prices in the world, and since we began seriously exporting LNG in 2016, natural gas prices have averaged 37% lower than the decade before.
The best thing the Biden administration can do it get out of the way. Allow the clear energy policy of the Trump administration to begin on January 20, which will unleash domestic energy, create good-paying U.S. jobs, and make our country, and our allies, more secure.”
DOE RELEASES LNG REPORT IN LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO CURB NEW EXPORTS: With President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration just over 30 days away, the Department of Energy has released its long-awaited report on liquified natural gas exports in a seeming effort to block approvals for new projects in the administration’s final hours.
The details: This afternoon, DOE released the report and opened a 60-day public comment period on their findings. It comes months after President Joe Biden first issued a pause on new LNG export approvals to non-free-trade-agreement countries.
While the report largely takes issue with increased LNG exports, it stops short of recommending a complete ban, indicating exports at some level are still within the public’s best interests.
It specifically estimated that increased exports of LNG could lead to the average American family seeing their gas and electricity bills increase by $122.54 per year by 2050. In the same time frame, though, the analysis projected, exports could also result in a 0.2% increase in GDP.
Regarding emissions, the study found that if LNG exports exceeded current authorized levels, associated direct emissions would be around 1.5 gigatons per year by 2050 — roughly equivalent to a quarter of all emissions generated in the U.S. annually currently. The report also estimated that demand for LNG in Europe, the primary current importer of US LNG, will drop while demand in Asia is expected to increase with China leading the way.
The pause: Many questioned the timing of the pause in January, as it came around the same time Venture Global LNG sought approval to build a $10 billion facility in Louisiana that would allow the U.S. to export massive quantities of LNG.
Critics have lambasted the pause as unconstitutional, while environmentalists have praised the move as a way to reduce emissions. In July, the freeze was overturned by a federal judge in Louisiana. One month later, the DOE said it would be appealing the decision.
When pressed on whether the release of the report marked the official “end” of the original pause, a senior DOE official told reporters that the administration was in compliance with all court orders regarding the issue and had approved an export authorization application for an LNG project in August. Given pending litigation challenging the summer overturn of the pause, the official declined to comment further.
While the department is now moving forward with the public comment period, a senior DOE official told reporters it has no intention to revise the report after receiving comments, calling the study “final.”
Read more here.
From the Washington Examiner Daily on Energy, December 17, 2024
Related: How DOE’s LNG Exports Study Could Clash with Real-World Data