Early this year I reported that the Biden-Harris administration paused approvals for pending and future applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from new projects.
The move was made to allow the Department of Energy (DOE) to review during the pause to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of projects seeking approval to export LNG to Europe and Asia, where the fuel is in hot demand.
The review would take months and then will be open to public comment… which would take even more time.
Now leaders on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are asserting that an internal study conducted in 2023 renders this moratorium on natural gas projects unnecessary, and appears to be nothing more that a strategy to push an anti-fossil-fuel agenda.
House Republicans, led by Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, have accused the DOE of concealing this study.
The Washington Free Beacon has been following this matter.
The Republicans’ claim stems from a June information request filed by the government watchdog group Government Accountability & Oversight, that asked for any federal study on natural gas exports conducted last year and transmitted to the Department of Energy. The group eventually filed a lawsuit against the Department of Energy, accusing it of stalling the request.In court filings cited by the Oversight Committee leaders and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, the Department of Energy acknowledged in September that it completed the information request, which yielded 97 responsive documents totaling 4,354 pages.The Department of Energy, though, never shared those documents. On Friday, it sent its final response to the request to Government Accountability and Oversight, saying it understood the group’s request to be seeking only any “final” natural gas export study and that it did not find a “final” study in its search. The group’s information request never specified that it only sought “final” studies rather than potential draft studies.”The clear implication is that one or more draft studies do exist, and DOE is attempting to cover that up,” Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.), Oversight energy subcommittee chairman Pat Fallon (R., Texas), and Rep. Clay Higgins (R., La.) wrote to Granholm on Wednesday.
A copy of the letter sent by the committee to Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is here.
The DOE may be playing word games.
…[T]the DOE did not release the documents, claiming it found no “final” study, though the request had not specifically asked for finalized reports.A study by the American Petroleum Institute projected that natural gas exports could contribute $73 billion to the U.S. economy by 2040 and create over 450,000 jobs.
If the allegations are true, the justification for the export permit pause must be called into question. The implications for its impact on the American economy are staggering.
The committee did not mince words about the gamesmanship, either.
“Transparency on this issue is essential. DOE’s action has thrown vital U.S. businesses—companies that invest billions in capital in long-term projects, support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, and bolster the energy security of our allies—into turmoil as they grapple with uncertainty from politically-motived federal actions,” continued the lawmakers.“The Committee demands that DOE finally provide complete and accurate information related to the Committee’s investigation and all relevant studies or drafts thereof that may have been conducted or prepared prior to DOE’s January 26, 2024, imposition of the Biden-Harris LNG export ban.”
This is exactly the type of bureaucratic behavior that would need to be countered if there were a Department of Government Efficiency.
Interestingly, it appears that the Biden-Harris DOE used a flawed study to justify the pause.
An analysis of earlier versions of the study, before it went through peer review, found it contained errors, which has sparked a congressional investigation into how much the study played into the LNG permit pause and whether or not the Department of Energy had any role in the research.The original preprint, which is the version before going through peer review, estimated that LNG exports produce 24% to 274% greater greenhouse gas emissions than coal.The published study, which was authored by Cornell University professor Robert Howarth, estimated 33% and doesn’t include any upper range.An analysis by the Breakthrough Institute found several errors with the study and noted that the comparisons of emissions from LNG versus coal were revised several times.The Breakthrough Institute’s analysis caught the attention of Republicans in the Senate and House. Rep. Pfluger, R-Texas, and Senator Tim Scott R-S.C., led a bicameral letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm that asks if she directed the study, how much it was relied upon in justifying the LNG moratorium, and if studies the DOE is undertaking use similarly flawed methodologies.
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