The Biden administration is delaying consideration of new natural gas export terminals in the United States, even as gas shipments to Europe and Asia have soared in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The election-year decision by President Joe Biden aligns with environmentalists who fear the huge increase in exports, in the form of liquefied natural gas or LNG, is locking in potentially catastrophic planet-warming emissions at a time when Biden has pledged to cut climate pollution in half by 2030.
“While MAGA Republicans willfully deny the urgency of the climate crisis, condemning the American people to a dangerous future, my administration will not be complacent,’’ Biden said in a statement. “We will not cede to special interests. We will heed the calls of young people and frontline communities who are using their voices to demand action from those with the power to act.’’
They can’t just put their foot down and say no more fossil fuels forever, all banned. He’s not a dictator. Biden admin has to work within the bounds of current law. If they just deny every approval application they’ll get sued and the courts will force an approval.
“The current economic and environmental analyses the Energy Department uses to evaluate LNG projects don’t adequately account for potential cost hikes for American consumers and manufacturers or the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, the White House said.”
One of the parts of this process is considering costs. The Biden admin has been changing old formulas made under the department of energy under Trump that calculate costs of greenhouse gas emissions but vastly under count the damages. The delay allows them to re calculate these costs with better formulas, and maybe even block them altogether. If they just say no and block it without following the normal regulatory process though, courts will overturn them in a second. Just like a ton of those Turmp regulations that made a bunch of his base happy but were shortly overturned for violating the regulations proceess.
Not disagreeing with continuing to keep up the pressure on the admin and lawmakers, but with the powers the executive does have this is how you would start if blocking it for good was your goal. Calculate the impact costs as so expensive (and rightfully so) so that any rejections will look very justified and can stand up in court.