House Oversight Committee Republicans asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm for more information about the Biden administration's temporary halt on approving new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. This is the latest in a series of actions against the administration's energy policies.
In a letter to Granholm, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas) and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) requested a staff-level briefing with the secretary and more details about how politics influenced the decision.
The Energy Department announced the pause in January, stopping all new LNG export approvals to countries without free-trade agreements with the U.S. until the administration can evaluate the effects of LNG exports on climate change. Existing exports are not affected.
“The timing of the decision, in an election year, raises the likelihood that political motivations drove the action,” the three Republicans wrote, citing reporting in The Wall Street Journal suggesting the administration consulted with environmental advocacy groups before the announcement.
Comer, Fallon and Higgins asked for communications between the department and White House climate advisers John Podesta and Ali Zaidi about the pause, as well as those between the department and nongovernmental organizations.
Congressional Republicans have frequently criticized the LNG pause, with GOP senators introducing a bill to reverse it and the Republican-majority House passing separate legislation. passing separate legislation in February giving sole jurisdiction over approving or rejecting new natural gas export projects to the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Nine Democrats voted with the GOP majority on the latter bill.
The White House has emphasized that the pause will not affect existing exports and that U.S. allies who increased their imports of American LNG to replace Russian energy. However, Zaidi suggested in January that climate concerns among the Democratic voter base were a factor in the decision as well, saying during a press briefing that “young people have been such a central part of the coalition that helped the president imagine this climate agenda.”
The Hill has reached out to the Energy Department for comment.
