Biden LNG Study Shelved After Pollution Impacts Deemed Minor

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(Bloomberg) – When the Biden administration stopped approving licenses to export American LNG in January last year, officials said they first need to determine how these shipments affect the environment and the economy.

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But the federal government already has some of these answers.

Just four months ago, the Ministry of Energy completed a study of this issue, and concluded that the deployed LNG exports will increase the prices of local residential gas modestly and will not change the emissions of global greenhouse gas.

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This evaluation, which was not previously released, was reviewed by Bloomberg News. A copy of the study was transferred, on September 5, 2023, and was marked by the “final review draft”, to Republicans who are temporarily studying for exporting LNG.

The analysis is likely to increase the criticism that former President Joe Biden's pause was of political motives and could indicate the results of a second evaluation that the Ministry of Energy, which was issued by conjugation with the suspension of the export license in December 2024.

Actor James Kumler, a Republican of Kentucky, heads the House Supervision and Government Reform Committee, although the Biden administration officials often claimed “following the science” who abandoned this principle by preserving the study of the study on the general view.

“The Energy Ministry blocks major data from both the American people and the Congress in order to pay its radical environmental agenda,” Kumler said in a statement.

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President Donald Trump raised the cessation of licenses for exporting new liquefied natural gas on his first day at the White House. He has already agreed to licenses for Communious LNG LLC and Venture Global Lng Inc. To export gas to countries that are not free trade partners with the United States.

But the study of liquefied natural gas in the final of the Biden remains a shadow on Trump's export approvals, which are supposed to be granted under federal law only if found in the public interest. This final analysis provides feed for opponents for the project who seek to challenge the new licenses.

This second evaluation, which was completed, is still in the end of the export of liquefied natural gas Biden is being reviewed by the public, with the closing of the suspension on Thursday. Defenders of more gas exports believe that conflicting studies help make the case to review the evaluation issued last December.

Different

A study of the Ministry of Primary Energy, which did not issue a different image of the role of LNG exports, provided evidence that can be used to justify more licensing approvals.

For example, as the second evaluation was described as the conclusion that unrestricted liquefied natural gas exports will increase the prices of local natural gas by more than 30 %, the first uncomfortable analysis showed that residential prices did not exceed 4 % in all scenarios designed similar.

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In another case, the Minister of Energy in Biden described the second study as showing that more liquefied natural gas exports “will lead to an increase in net global emissions” through each deliberate scenario. However, the previous 2023 analysis was found that in multiple scenarios, global greenhouse gas emissions will decrease if US exports of LNG increases.

Natural gas burns more clearly than coal. Supporters of LNG are arguing that when coal gas is solved as an electricity source, it can reduce the pollution of the comprehensive planet.

Megan Gibson, the chief lawyer at the Center for Southern Environment Law, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday that the final study of Biden's era “Bakzi is the legend of displacement, which shows that the increase in liquefied natural gas exports is not simply replaced by dirt fuel abroad.” Instead, she said the analysis showed that more liquefied natural gas flows abroad lead to increased energy consumption, and therefore, more greenhouse gas emissions.

(Updates with an upcoming statement and additional details, from the sixth paragraph)

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