Washington, D.C. — The Biden administration’s recent decision to pause expansion of LNG export terminals has created uncertainty among producers and consumers of U.S. natural gas, including America’s allies abroad. Today, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) released a memo to the White House proposing a way forward: Lifting the pause for companies that submit to third-party measurement and certification of their methane emissions.
PPI proposes that the Department of Energy (DOE) act swiftly to design an environmental public interest test for LNG exports that is meaningful, workable, and transparent. Such a test could be built around a third-party verification of methane performance for the entire supply chain. Current certification standards cover roughly one third of U.S. gas production, and ensuring a high environmental standard across exports would benefit both the environment and U.S. companies, especially at a time when major trading partners are implementing similar requirements.
“The indefinite LNG permit pause has created significant uncertainty that risks the economic, national security, and coal-displacement benefits of U.S. LNG exports,” said Elan Sykes, Director of Energy and Climate Policy at PPI. “Paired with key mitigation provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act, methane certification would meet the administration’s climate aims and reassure U.S. allies and trading partners who increasingly depend on a reliable supply of low-methane gas.
U.S. LNG exports play an essential role in meeting global energy demand, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. PPI’s proposal aims to achieve net emissions reductions on a global scale, vital to combating climate change, without disrupting the LNG industry in the U.S. This industry has grown to play a sizable role in the U.S. economy, with jobs that pay well above the national average and $47.4 billion in exports in 2022 driving the energy sector to a record-high 18% share of overall U.S. goods exported that year.
The Biden Administration has made tremendous progress in America’s clean energy transition, especially through the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the CHIPS Act. The Administration can continue to build on this success by focusing on emissions reductions at home and abroad through faster domestic permitting, deployment of clean energy, and continued innovation to bring down the cost of low-carbon technologies for the world.
###
Media Contact: Amelia Fox – afox@ppionline.org
