Even before President Biden left U.S. energy supporters puzzled over his moratorium on development of LNG ports and operations in the nation, there had been an effort in the House to unlock domestic LNG potential.
It won approval in the House but stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and thus prompted Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mulling and South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott to introduce a new version earlier this month in the Senate.
They too called it the Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act to depoliticize the export of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) by eliminating the requirement for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to authorize its export and instead giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sole authority over the approval process.
The two introduced the Act just days, explaining it came “after President Biden handed a major victory to both Vladimir Putin and far-left climate activists by pausing approvals of pending applications for LNG exports.”
“The Biden administration is playing politics with affordable and reliable American energy,” said Sen. Mullin, in a statement issued at the time of the filing of the bill. He pointed out the U.S. exported more LNG last year than any other country and US allies relay on American LNG to replace Russian natural gas.
“This politically motivated, ill-timed decision to push the far left’s radical green agenda during a time of economic uncertainty and heightened global unrest couldn’t be more telling of the Biden administration’s priorities.”
Sen. Scott too was critical of the President’s move calling it pure politics.
“President Biden is dead set on bowing to the far-left and making the U.S. and our allies more reliant on foreign adversaries like Russia. Instead, I’m fighting to unleash America’s abundant natural resources, bolster our energy independence and safeguard our national security.”
The bill is cosponsored by Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).
Whether the bill by Mullin and Scott can get past the Democrats who control the Senate is another matter.
Similar legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this Congress by former Representative Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) and was included in both H.R.1, the Low Energy Costs Act, and H.R. 2811, the Limit, Save, Grow Act. Both of those bills passed the House of Representatives and have since stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.