Biden must resume LNG permits
It’s time for the Joe Biden administration to end its pause on permitting new liquefied natural gas projects and embrace the potential of LNG exports to strengthen our national security and lower carbon emissions while powering our economy at home.
That is a huge opportunity for Texas. If we were a country, Texas would be the third largest producer of natural gas in the world. Natural gas directly supports well over 100,000 Texas jobs. According to ZipRecruiter, the paychecks average around $108,000 a year.
LNG exports are lowering our trade deficit and helping fund our schools, roads and public safety through billions in new economic activity. And despite the astronomic growth of exports since 2016, investment and technological innovation have helped keep domestic natural gas prices largely stable.
LNG is also critical to our national security and stability around the globe. Russia and other hostile nations use their vast energy resources as a weapon, threatening to raise prices and cut off supply to our allies. And every dollar that flows to Russia to pay for their oil and gas is essentially funding the brutal invasion of our ally Ukraine. While the administration
insists the pause in LNG export approvals will not affect our ability to supply our friends in the long term, many allies are concerned.
Just three weeks ago, 35 European politicians from across the continent wrote a letter to Biden urging him to immediately end the pause on new LNG projects, saying it “undermines America’s allies, and the Western order more broadly.”
Reducing the world’s dependence
on adversarial countries like Russia by providing an alternative and dependable supply of energy will make all of us safer.
I know some of my friends in the environmental community will take issue with this approach, and I understand their concerns. It’s critical we continue to reduce emissions, increase efficiency across the board and support communities impacted by gas extraction and refinement. Man-made
climate change is very real, and we are seeing its impacts across the globe and here at home in Texas — from record-breaking wildfires to extreme heat, to unprecedented violent storms.
That’s one of the reasons I voted for the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which includes billions of dollars to cap shuttered oil and gas wells that continue to leak methane, tax credits to create jobs in energy manufacturing and hydrogen, and hundreds of millions for Texas’ coastal communities to prepare for storms and rising sea levels. It will also help us lower emissions in the United States by nearly 40% by 2030.
Today, the largest carbon capture plant in the world is being built in West Texas thanks to our efforts. And Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has said it will help create a market for carbon that will be “crucial to tackling climate change.”
Texas has and always will be an energy state. We are No. 1 in more than just oil and gas. Texas is the nation’s leading solar and wind producer as well. The best way forward is an all-of-the-above energy approach that harnesses everything from renewable energy to nuclear to geothermal to natural gas. This is the most responsible and realistic way forward for us to both address climate change, continue to lead the free world and protect and grow Texas jobs.
President Biden, it’s time to act. End the pause on LNG exports and make clear that we can grow our economy, support our allies and fight climate change using homegrown American energy.
Colin Allred represents the 32nd District of Texas in the U.S. Congress. He is running for the U.S. Senate.