The Biden administration does not appear to intend to approve any new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hubs, despite a federal court ruling on Monday lifting the policy, according to energy industry experts who oppose the moratorium and prominent environmental groups that support it.
Judge James Cain Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, on Monday blocked the administration's suspension of approvals for new LNG export terminals, less than six months after the White House announced the moratorium in January. Despite the ruling, it's unlikely the federal government will begin approving the slow-moving export capacity, experts told DCNF.
“I don't think it will affect the pace of the Department of Energy,” Mike McKenna, a Republican strategist with extensive experience in the energy industry, told DCNF. “I think the Biden team has already decided they want to make the moratorium permanent if they win, and this investigation is just to make that seem more rational and less political. The ruling won't affect that.”
White House Ordered The Department of Energy (DOE) will suspend new approvals while it conducts a study on the climate impacts of LNG exports, along with their economic and security implications. The White House said Sold The decision is one of the biggest climate change measures for the United States, but energy industry experts explain the policy is likely to empower foreign producers who do not produce LNG in as clean a way as U.S. companies. (Related: Effort to block new natural gas exports traces back to one Ivy League professor and his questionable research)
Other energy experts, including David Blackmon, a 40-year veteran of the oil and gas industry who continues to write and consult on the energy sector, are similarly skeptical that Governor Kaine's order will have any real impact on the situation developers and exporters face. Blackmon told DCNF that he doesn't think the ruling will have “one iota” of impact on how the Biden administration proceeds.
“[Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm] “And her ideological lieutenants have a variety of administrative options at their disposal to avoid lifting a finger in response to the judge's order,” Blackmon told DCNF. “Neither the Department of Energy nor the White House will take any action on this matter for one reason only: this 'pause' has been a political payback to Biden's radical environmentalist base since Day One of an election year. Every move this administration makes is based purely on political calculations, and the overarching politics of the moratorium remain unchanged in the wake of Judge Kaine's ruling.”
The DOE told the DCNF on Monday that it disagreed with the decision and was reviewing it. Neither the department nor the White House responded to requests for comment. (Related story: Biden climate official evades question about how blocking natural gas projects would reduce emissions)
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In his ruling, Judge Kane described the policy as “utterly devoid of reason or logic and perhaps a manifestation of ideocracy.”
many Critics Critics of the government's decision to suspend approval have described it as a blatantly political decision, given well-funded environmental groups and activist voters. shape The Sierra Club is expected to be a key constituency for Biden's reelection bid, which has been thrown into jeopardy by the president's weak performance in a debate last week with President Donald Trump. The Sierra Club has praised the freeze and is among the groups backing Biden in the 2024 election.
“While this ruling requires DOE to move forward with its evaluation of pending LNG applications, the preliminary injunction does not order DOE to make any specific decisions or halt the important process of updating the data it relies on to determine whether those applications are in the public interest, as required by law,” said Sierra Club staff attorney Louisa Eberle. Said In a statement responding to Judge Kane's ruling, the Department of Energy said, “The Department of Energy has the authority and obligation to properly consider the true impacts of LNG exports, and we believe it will reach the same conclusion as us – that expanding LNG exports would be contrary to the public interest and that the pending application should be denied.”
Kane's sentence on Monday was industry group.
“President Biden's freeze on U.S. LNG export approvals is pointless, and the Western District of Louisiana's action to block the freeze was the right decision,” it said. American Exploration and Production CouncilThe U.S. Natural Gas Council, the gas industry's leading trade group, said in a statement shared with DCNF: “The administration should use this opportunity to accelerate new U.S. LNG projects, which will boost our economy, strengthen our national security, and contribute to shared global emissions reduction goals.”
Dan Kish, a senior fellow at the Energy Institute, questioned whether the Biden administration would be interested in adjusting policy in response to an adverse ruling.
“Whether it's student loans, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, onshore and offshore leasing, the administration has essentially ignored the law, and Biden knows that by the time the courts catch up, he's going to get his way anyway,” Dan Kish, a senior fellow at the Energy Institute, told DCNF. “I think everyone is ignoring the rulings, which is a tragedy in our system. We have a separation of powers system, and if the executive branch does something that's rejected by the courts, in theory it has to go along with it.”
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