Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas is still demanding more answers from the Biden administration over its decision earlier in the year to suspend LNG exports and construction of new LNG plants.
He doesn’t like the answers he got from Energy leaders earlier in the year.
In his capacity as chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Rep. Lucas and three other committee members sent a follow-up letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm questioning the Administration’s lack of transparency regarding their prohibition on exporting U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG).
Joining him were Investigations and Oversight Chairman Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Energy Subcommittee Chairman Brandon Williams (R-NY), and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Max Miller (R-OH).
In February, Lucas was joined by 19 Science Committee members in a letter to the Secretary sharing concerns that this pause has no scientific justification and will ultimately result in a permanent ban of one of our nation’s most valuable clean energy resources. The letter posed several important questions and requested documents and a briefing to better understand the Administration’s decision.
After the letter was sent, the committee received a response letter from the agency and had a briefing with Department officials. However, neither provided clear justification and relevant documentation for the committee to consider.
Given these recent developments, the members wrote in this week’s letter, “The Committee lacks crucial information and remains concerned with the process that the Department’s National Laboratories are being asked to undertake in support of the Administration’s pause of LNG exports. For this reason, in addition to new questions that have presented themselves since our last letter, we request answers to questions that the Department has so far failed to answer as well as documents and communications regarding the ongoing process.”
The scope of topics to be considered under the new analyses, as well as who will determine the scope of these topics are of significant importance to committee members.
“Without knowing the full scope of what environmental and life cycle analyses will be required and who within the Department has given direction to the National Laboratories on matters such as what demand conditions can or cannot be evaluated, it is impossible to label this effort as independent technical information.”
The committee is also troubled with the current lack of information on the analyses being made available for review and public comment.
“As the Committee with sole jurisdiction over the National Laboratories and authorizer of research and development activities at DOE, it is imperative for the Department to provide the Committee the opportunity to review the underlying work immediately,” the members noted.
The committee requests the Department provide the necessary materials and completed answers to the posed questions in the letter by May 8, 2024.
The full letter can be found here.