NRDC Backs White House Pause on LNG Exports Far into the Future: "The Stakes Could Not Be Higher”
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration hit pause on new LNG export permits while it revaluates the criteria by which it determines whether it’s in the public interest to permit massive new projects that would expand exports of liquefied natural gas far into the future.
Manish Bapna, president of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), made the following statement:
“This is the right call. The stakes could not be higher - for the climate, U.S. leadership and our future. The administration needs to pause and get the facts. These are dangerous projects that would lock in decades more dependence on the fossil fuels driving us toward climate catastrophe.
“Let’s be clear about the public interest. It’s time to phase out fossil fuels. That’s what the United States and 197 other countries agreed to do last month in Dubai. That’s what the science demands. Vast industrial projects to export these dirty and dangerous fuels far into the future have no place in a climate-safe world.
"We won’t advance environmental justice by making low-income communities and people of color bear the brunt of fossil fuel hazard and harm. We won’t help our families by forcing them to bear the risks of domestic gas production and then compete with customers abroad for the fuel. We won’t help Europe break with Russian gas by building projects that won’t even come on stream until the end of the decade. Real energy security - for this country and its allies - comes from speeding the shift to cleaner ways to power our future and away from the fuels that pad the war chests of belligerent petrostates like Russia.
"The administration needs to ground its decision in the real-world consequences of ever-expanding LNG exports on the climate crisis, environmental injustice and consumer gas prices. Right now it doesn’t have the facts. It’s working with guidelines written for the era of rotary phones and mimeograph machines.
“What’s needed is a pause, so the administration can sharpen its tools. We need an open and transparent process for determining how best to assess these critical concerns. The public deserves to be heard on how our government decides whether projects are in the public interest."
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law, and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health, and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd). Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.