Biden Administration Permitting Liquified Natural Gas Plants
Natural gas, particularly liquified natural gas (LNG), has been one of the biggest fossil fuel stories of the 2000s. Composed primarily of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, natural gas has become relatively cheap to obtain (especially by fracking, itself hard on the environment locally) and a source of profit for the fossil fuel industry. A problem is that being a small molecule it leaks into the atmosphere when passed along pipelines and when processed and shipped as LNG.
There was big news on January 26, 2024 when the Biden administration announced changes to the permitting process of huge coastal plants for exporting LNG.
This has had strong support by some environmentalists and environmental groups, but others were less enthusiastic. Predictably the fossil fuel industry and politicians that are supported by them were very, very upset.
“The Biden administration last week announced that it was pausing the permitting process for some new natural gas export projects, including a facility that would be the second-largest gas export terminal in the United States. It’s a move the White House said will help the US meet its climate change goals, but it’s not clear how it will affect the economy, energy markets, or the environment.
“It’s worth parsing this announcement carefully. The White House said on January 26 that it’s issuing a “temporary pause on pending decisions on exports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to non-FTA [free trade agreement] countries until the Department of Energy can update the underlying analyses for authorizations.
“That means the move won’t affect exports from the eight LNG export terminals already operating in the US, which exported an average of 11.6 billion cubic feet of LNG per day in 2023 — 1 billion more than the world’s second-largest exporter, Australia. It only applies to permit applications for new terminals looking to export to countries that do not have free trade agreements with the US, which includes most of Europe and Asia. There are currently four LNG export terminals under consideration with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The White House notes that in spite of this pause, US LNG exports are still projected to double by 2030. And the pause is temporary, which means that if the proposed permits do eventually pass muster, gas exports from new terminals to non-free-trade-agreement countries could proceed anyway.
“The Energy Department said it will use the delay to examine LNG export permit applications with newer data to ensure potential exports serve US interests, accounting for domestic energy needs, national security, and the environment. The process will take several months at least, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholmsaid during a teleconference.”
Here is Bill McKibben from a presentation by Covering Climate Change Now on January 30th2024 (now available on YouTube )
[the Biden proposal is] “the biggest thing any president has ever done to check the dirty industry now that is a low bar… but Biden cleared it and it’s not an act of political symbolism as you can tell from the outraged howls from the oil industry … I think the Biden Administration… deserves great credit. They’re now under intense pressure from the fossil fuel industry which knows it has one game left, it has to delay at any cost this transition and keep their business model as long as the can since they’re now high-cost energy producers the only way they can do that is through gaming the system politically using their reveres of capital … to keep themselves in a game they don’t deserve to be in any longer…. We provide more than enough natural gas to make up for any shortfall caused by trying to deal with Vladmir Putin”
Gabrielle Jorgensen makes similar arguments on a Climate Changemakers post:
“While fossil gas does burn less carbon dioxide than coal and fuel oil, LNG exports actually emit more greenhouse gases ” [Note: the paper in the link has not been peer reviewed yet] “than producing the same amount of energy with coal. Coal! This shocking fact can be attributed to the largely uncontrolled methane leakage in pipelines and throughout the processing of natural gas, and the energy it takes to produce and ship LNG.
“Methane, while shorter-lived than carbon dioxide, has 80x the global warming potential of CO2 when first released into the atmosphere.
“Proponents of domestic LNG development have pushed two popular narratives in recent months, neither of which stands up to scrutiny.
1) U.S. allies: They often argue that because the war in Ukraine has caused an energy supply crisis in Europe, our allies need us to develop new LNG terminals to meet peak demand. However, existing U.S. LNG exports are adequately meeting their needs, plus evidence shows that European natural gas demand is dropping precipitously. We love sticking it to Putin, but it looks like we don’t need 17 new LNG terminals to do so.
2) Domestic gas prices: The other (usually glossed over and intentionally vague) argument is that increased fossil gas supply from the U.S. means domestic gas prices will fall. Unfortunately, that argument is a misappropriation of supply and demand. Research shows that LNG exports actually push domestic gas prices upward because they tie U.S. gas markets to global price fluctuations.”
“The big news: In a significant policy shift on January 24, 2024, the Biden administration paused the evaluation of the 17 proposed LNG terminal projects in order to develop new criteria for the "public interest" determination, which will, for the first time, take climate change into account.
“This development is monumental. It signals better alignment of U.S. actions with the commitments made at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels and those required by the Paris Agreement.
1. FERC could finalize a rule that interprets “public interest” to include limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Will they do this? It’s possible, since Democratic FERC commissioners currently have a two-thirds majority. But the timeline is tight, and it’s very difficult for the public to influence FERC as an independent executive agency. FERC commissioners are confirmed by the Senate, and there are currently two vacant seats. Their confirmations could be an opportunity for climate advocacy. Courts can also compel FERC to take action (and the Sierra Club has sued over LNG permitting).
2. Congress can amend the Natural Gas Act to specify a definition of “public interest.” It could also codify the decision by banning LNG exports outright. Neither of those things will happen in 2024. If either policy gained traction in the future, constituents could contact their members of Congress to voice support.”