The Biden administration released a draft report Tuesday warning that Americans could be negatively affected if the president’s moratorium on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports is lifted.
The report concludes that U.S. energy prices could rise by up to 30% over the next few years, while increasing LNG exports will contribute to carbon emissions, but energy industry officials soon The complaint was dismissed as “politically motivated.” To environmental activists. Meanwhile, an environmental group criticized the same report as “weak and half-hearted.”
The study, conducted weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, will suspend all new U.S. LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries, citing the need to better consider climate and economic impacts. It follows President Biden’s decision in January to suspend it. Significant increase in LNG sales to buyers in Asia and Europe. On the campaign trail, President-elect Trump vowed to quickly reverse the moratorium once Biden takes office.
The draft report analysis, which currently has a 60-day comment period, found that U.S. LNG growth could increase prices for U.S. consumers by up to 30% in the short term. Additionally, although they stopped short of recommending an outright ban on LNG exports given near-term demand from other countries, Energy Department officials said energy prices could rise by about The main focus was also on the negative impact on consumers. $100 by 2050 due to tight demand.
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An LNG tanker seen in Port Canaveral, Florida. (Malcolm Denmark/Florida Today)
Analysis shows that expanding U.S. LNG exports beyond currently authorized levels could result in up to 1.5 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent to the atmosphere by 2050, which is more than the annual greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. It was pointed out that this amount corresponds to approximately 25% of effective gas emissions.
However, industry groups are pushing back against this claim. One industry executive told Fox News Digital that this dataset models a scenario that assumes increased LNG exports do not replace other forms of energy consumption, such as coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. He said he was there. In fact, the official pointed out that LNG is expected to help offset coal consumption in the EU and the rest of the world by as much as 50-60%, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency.
The analysis found that increased exports would increase U.S. GDP by about 0.2%, but Energy Department officials told reporters Tuesday that the increase in GDP would have “broader public and consumer welfare implications. “It doesn’t necessarily correlate with positive effects.”
On August 28, 2024, the LNG tanker “Hellas Diana” accompanied by a tugboat transports an LNG cargo to the “German Ostsee” energy terminal. (Stefan Sauer/dpa/Sipa USA)
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement released with the report that increasing LNG exports “will generate wealth for export facility owners and create jobs across the natural gas supply chain.” However, he suggested that the domestic price of natural gas would rise. .
The study comes amid a surge in sales of chilled natural gas in the United States. The Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States will emerge as the world’s No. 1 LNG exporter in 2023, with current production capacity already on track to double by the end of 2010 on the back of current projects.
This also comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine has left US allies in Europe scrambling to buy LNG to make up for lost Russian piped gas and import-dependent countries that receive 90% of their energy from Ukraine. This incident comes amid new demand from Japan. External suppliers.
The report, released weeks before President Trump took office on January 20, sparked a backlash from natural gas advocates.
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Port Canaveral’s liquefied natural gas tanker, Q-LNG4000, was supplying fuel to Carnival Mardis Gras at the port. (Malcolm Denmark/Florida Today)
“Today’s report from Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm makes carbon-based energy acceptable in all its forms,” Jay Timmons, CEO and chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), said in a statement. It is clear that this is a politically motivated document intended for an audience that believes it cannot.” “LNG exports play an important role in reducing emissions by providing high-emitting countries with a clean alternative energy source.”
NAM, meanwhile, conducted a study into the ban and found that nearly 1 million jobs would be threatened by LNG outages over the next 20 years if restrictions remain in place, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Karen Herbert, CEO and president of the American Gas Association, called the report “a clear and incomprehensible attempt to justify a serious policy error.”
“As our allies struggle with the weaponization of natural gas and energy depletion, restricting supplies of essential energy is completely wrong,” Herbert said in a statement. “The Biden administration’s suspension of U.S. LNG exports is completely wrong. It was a mistake,” he added. The result was uncertainty for markets, investors, and U.S. allies around the world. ”
However, the report is not without criticism from the left.
Environmental group Food & Water Watch also criticized the Biden administration for its “weak” report warning against LNG exports.
“This study reflects the Biden administration’s entire four-year approach to advancing a clean energy future: weak and half-hearted,” said Jim Walsh, director of policy at the Food and Water Watchdog. said in a statement. “We cannot continue to fall victim to the profit-driven policies of fossil fuel companies. President Biden will ban further LNG exports before he leaves office, and his administration has threatened to deny pending LNG permits. You have to listen.”
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Meanwhile, President-elect Trump has also repeatedly promised to lift the LNG moratorium and “free up” U.S. energy exports after taking office, blaming the outgoing Biden administration for high costs and supply problems.
In October, he vowed at a campaign rally that U.S. residents would see their energy prices cut “in half” within his first year in office.
A person familiar with the transition planning told Reuters that he recently announced that he would immediately lift Biden’s LNG moratorium to allow for new LNG exports after Biden takes office. “We will strongly tackle the issue,” he vowed.
Brianne Depiche is a political reporter for FOX News Digital, covering the 2024 election and other national news.
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