MSCI Signs Letter Opposing Pause In Natural Gas Exports

As Connecting the Dots reported last month, President Joe Biden recently issued a directive to pause the federal government’s reviews of applications for licenses to export liquified natural gas (LNG) from U.S. terminals. The stated purpose of the pause was to determine whether LNG exports harm the environment, and whether export applications should be considered through that lens of their impact on the climate.

The freeze immediately applied to 12 export terminals along the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast with applications pending at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These projects represent either planned new facilities or expansions of existing terminals, which collectively would add up to 15 billion cubic feet per day of new natural gas production and exports to the United States’ already world-leading capacity.

An even greater danger is that this pause could impact LNG terminals already in operation, those under construction, and those that have received licenses, but are not yet under construction.

This decision is likely to result in several negative outcomes, including slowing the United States’ transition to cleaner forms of energy like natural gas. (U.S. LNG has a lower emissions footprint than coal or Russian natural gas, for example.) It also will make U.S. allies more vulnerable to attacks from countries like Russia, China, and Iran.

For these reasons, the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) joined the Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA) to send a letter last week to the president asking that he reconsider this policy. The letter, available here, also was sent to every member of the U.S. House and Senate. It details exactly how this policy endangers U.S. allies and will:

• Result in tens of thousands of lost U.S. jobs;
• Discourage major investments by companies and their financial institutions by adding permitting risk;
• Endanger U.S. energy security; and
• Reverse progress toward addressing climate change.

Until now, applications to DOE for export licenses have been relatively expeditiously processed and granted after finding those exports would be in the U.S. public interest.

Congress is in the process of holding hearings on the Biden administration’s new policy, with the potential of considering legislation to reverse it. MSCI and EEIA ask that company leaders forward this letter to their senators and U.S. representatives so they hear directly from constituents about the pause’s potential to harm the U.S. economy and its workers.