FIRST ON FOX: A bipartisan group of more than 50 House lawmakers is pushing the Biden administration to end its pause on new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits in compliance with a recent federal court order, arguing the progressive policy is undercutting U.S. energy both at home and abroad.
“From day one, President Biden has waged a whole-of-government attack on the American oil and gas industry,” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Like most of his executive actions, Biden’s ban on U.S. LNG export permits was blocked by the courts; yet, the Biden Administration’s response has been to flout the Judge’s decision and continue failing to approve these permits.”
Arrington led four Democrats and 46 Republicans in urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to reverse the LNG pause, initiated in January of this year.
The House Democrats who joined the rebuke are Reps. Lou Correa, D-Calif.; Henry Cuellar, D-Texas; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; and Jared Golden, D-Maine.
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Reps. Jodey Arrington, left, and Lou Correa, right, helped lead a letter rebuking President Biden’s LNG export permit pause. (Getty Images)
Correa called LNG “clean and reliable” and said it facilitates “millions of good-paying American jobs.”
“There were considerable negative economic, national security, and environmental impacts as a result of the Administration’s original pause — and they must begin expediting review of existing LNG export permit applications so that we can create American jobs, support U.S. allies, and reduce carbon emissions,” Correa told Fox News Digital.
They are sending the letter – which is also backed by groups like the American Petroleum Institute, the Energy Workforce & Technology Council, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Institute – to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm weeks after a federal judge ordered her to lift the pause on new LNG export permits.
Trump administration-appointed Judge James Cain granted 16 states’ request for an emergency stay on the policy over arguments it harmed their economies, in a massive blow to Biden’s climate agenda.
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Everett LNG Marine Terminal is pictured on Oct. 31, 2022, in Everett, Massachusetts. (Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
The 51 lawmakers who wrote to Granholm on Monday said Biden’s policy “reduced the competitiveness of American energy exporters, restricted critical energy supply to key U.S. allies, and politicized an LNG export approval process that should be based on business considerations and market demand alone.”
The letter cited a 2017 study that projected LNG production could create between 220,000 and 453,000 new U.S. jobs and add $73 billion to the American economy by 2040.
“LNG also emits significantly fewer CO2 emissions than other types of energy sources, making the scale-up of this fuel essential as consumers throughout the world look to reduce their carbon footprint,” they said. “In addition, the export of this fuel was, and continues to be vital for our European allies as these countries overcome the critical energy shortages that ensued following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
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The House voted mostly along party lines in February to reverse Biden’s LNG permit pause. The White House opposed the bill but stopped short of threatening a veto.
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The White House also rejected a proposal from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in April to tie Ukraine aid to a reversal of the Biden LNG policy.
Biden’s pause did have a healthy amount of support from Democrats, however. In May, more than 70 House and Senate Democrats led a letter praising the administration’s decision to pause the LNG permit approval process.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOE for comment.
