If the United States implements unlimited exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), domestic energy prices will rise sharply, the Department of Energy has announced. The long-awaited report It was released on Tuesday.
The report comes nearly a year after the Biden administration announced a moratorium on new LNG exports, which had soared after Russia invaded Ukraine and sparked a scramble for other energy sources in Europe. The department announced the suspension as part of its efforts to determine the economic and environmental impacts of exports.
The report says unregulated exports could lead to up to 30% higher wholesale costs of natural gas, while also increasing greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 gigatonnes per year by 2050. I decided.
“Until now, U.S. consumers and businesses have enjoyed relatively stable natural gas prices at home compared to other parts of the world that have faced much greater price fluctuations,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “I have benefited from being there,” he said. “[But] The more U.S. LNG exports, the greater the risk that these global price fluctuations will be imported into the domestic market and impact U.S. consumers and manufacturers. ”
The suspension does not affect existing export authorizations, which currently have enough capacity to produce about 15 billion cubic feet per day.
The report has a 60-day comment period that will extend into the second Trump administration. Chris Wright, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Energy, is the CEO of hydraulic fracturing company Liberty Energy, and his nomination has been praised by industry insiders.
The report was welcomed by environmental groups but harshly criticized by the gas industry.
“These studies clearly show that LNG exports are in the gas industry's best interest and no one else's,” Lauren Parker, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute, said in a statement. “There is,” he said. If Mr. Trump wants to raise prices, studies show that current supplies are sufficient to meet all domestic and global energy needs. He will have to answer for dangerous gas exports that have caused more deadly storms, driven rice whales to extinction and imposed higher costs on consumers. ”
Karen Herbert, president and CEO of the American Gas Association, denounced the report as a “blatant and incomprehensible attempt at legitimation.” [the Biden administration’s] This is a serious policy mistake. ”
“We look forward to working with the incoming administration to correct the obvious problems with this study during the public comment period,” Herbert added.
