The Biden administration issued its first natural gas export permits in months on Tuesday, a move that appears to be motivated by an desire to support the Harris campaign, energy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Department of Energy (DOE) issued The Department of Energy this week issued a five-year license to New Fortress Energy to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to non-free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries, the first license issued to an export terminal developer since announcing a freeze on non-FTA LNG export authorizations in January. Energy experts explained that the Department of Energy's decision should not be interpreted as a sign that the Biden administration is retreating from hiatus, but rather as a potential political maneuver to help Vice President Kamala Harris present a more moderate image on energy issues as the election approaches.
“We're pleased that the permit was granted, but don't be fooled by appearances here: this facility in Mexico is tiny compared to the massive U.S. projects being held hostage by the Biden-Harris Administration's LNG moratorium,” American Energy Alliance president Tom Pyle told DCNF. “Like the Biden-Harris Administration's repeal of the LNG ban and newfound love affair with gasoline-powered vehicles, the granting of one LNG permit for a Mexican facility two months before the election does not mean that the current administration's hostility toward the oil and gas industry has been lifted.” (RELATED: Top Harris campaign adviser listens to “demands” from environmental groups that have harassed Kamala and top Democrats)
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“This is a political ploy to make Kamala Harris appear centrist heading into the election,” Pyle continued. “If the Biden-Harris administration is serious, there are several domestic LNG facilities that could be approved right now that could add billions of dollars of economic activity and energy jobs to the country. But don't get your hopes up.”
New Fortress Energy High-speed LNG1 terminal The terminal, located off Mexico's east coast, is already built and operational and can export about 1.4 million tons of LNG per year, according to a DOE spokesperson. According to In comparison to New Fortress Energy, the United States exported a total of 8.6 million tonnes of LNG in December 2023, the final month before the White House announced the approval suspension. According to To the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
While the company said it was “pleased” to announce it had received the export license, energy experts told DCNF that five years is hardly enough time for developers to make a competitive profit on a capital-intensive facility like Fast LNG 1.
“From an infrastructure perspective, five years goes by overnight,” Kevin Book, managing director of research at Clearview Energy Partners, told DCNF. “So the idea of building long-life infrastructure under long-term contracts is pretty dramatically hampered by the short contract lengths and short licenses that have been an issue in the history of LNG in the U.S.”
Republican strategist and energy lobbyist Mike McKenna also said the short license period is hardly ideal for New Fortress Energy.
“It's going to be very hard to turn a profit within five years,” McKenna told DCNF.
McKenna added that rather than fully lifting the export authorization freeze, the Energy Department is “more likely trying to undermine VP Harris' interests in Pennsylvania, where this issue is hurting her the most.” (Related: “The third rail”: Here's why Kamala's team won't stoke typical Democratic climate panic this election.)
Harris campaign official avoids CNN host's question about VP's change of stance on fracking issuehttps://t.co/07Bv7x5r5y
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 28, 2024
The administration has received a court order to lift the permit freeze, and the federal government is appealing the decision, but both McKenna and Book told DCNF there's a difference between the agency ending the moratorium and actually starting to issue new permits on a consistent basis.
“It's really impossible to get the administration to do anything it doesn't want to do,” McKenna told the DCNF. “The courts can get them to release prisoners and they can get them to stop things, but they can't get them to actually do anything. This is an attempt to puncture the balloon that the campaign is currently facing.”
Book said he “can't help but think” that presidential politics are influencing the Department of Energy's decision-making in some way, adding: “It also seems as though the Department of Energy is trying to approve smaller facilities as political cover to remain silent about larger facilities.”
Natural gas is crucial to Pennsylvania's economy, and the state produced more natural gas in 2022 than any other state in the country except Texas. According to According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the industry supports more than 100,000 jobs in the state. According to Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, energy experts and political commentators told DCNF that the administration's export authorization suspension action could be enough to determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate in 2025, according to one estimate by FTI Consulting.
Meanwhile, Harris's campaign has sought to distance her from the aggressive left-wing positions on environmental and energy issues she supported early in her career, including banning fracking and mandating electric vehicles.
The DOE explained its decision to issue the licenses in a statement provided to the DCNF on Tuesday. The agency did not immediately respond to follow-up questions Wednesday about whether the licenses signal an immediate lifting of the licensing freeze or whether political considerations influenced the decision.
“This action authorizes the NFE Altamira floating LNG export platform, already constructed and operational offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, to re-export up to 400 million cubic feet per day of U.S.-produced natural gas as LNG to non-FTA countries for a five-year export period,” an Energy Department spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. “This order does not increase the total amount of LNG NFE Altamira can re-export, but it does increase its export availability to non-FTA countries, including our European allies, by approximately 3 percent. These exports will be available for the coming winter. Separately, the Department of Energy will continue to update its analysis of LNG exports to ensure that the best information, based on the latest science, is taken into account in upcoming reviews of LNG export applications.”
New Fortress Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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