Something Rotten Went on with That Biden LNG Pause and the Truth Is Slowly Coming Out

A recent letter from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm suggests the Biden-Harris Administration did an LNG study and hid that one because it ran counter to the idea of a pause. The Administration then relied, instead, on a ridiculous study by Cornell University's Bob Howarth, a committed fractivist who also sits on the Board of Directors of Food & Water Watch, an implacable foe of oil and gas.

Biden-Harris Administration Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm

What is the evidence of an earlier study failing to justify the Biden-Harris pause? Well, consider the following (emphasis and paragraphing added):

In imposing its LNG ban, the Biden-Harris Administration cited a need for an updated study of the potential environmental, economic, energy security, national security, and other impacts of additional LNG exports. The Committee has learned, however, that a draft study may, in fact, have already been compiled in 2023 and that DOE failed to provide this relevant information responsive to both the Committee’s requests and interested parties seeking disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

According to reports, DOE conceded on September 14, 2024, that 97 documents amounting to thousands of pages exist that may be responsive to a targeted FOIA request for “any LNG export study transmitted by the National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) to the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management between Jan. 1, 2023 and Oct. 31, 2023.”

As stated by a key stakeholder, ongoing FOIA litigation “forced a stonewalling DOE to at long last admit that, yes, there is a 2023 study meeting that description, it was sent to the senior political appointees in the Biden-Harris DOE, and has disappeared into the ether.”

This is deeply concerning, as it reflects DOE’s utter disregard for necessary public transparency and raises questions about whether DOE was fully forthcoming to this Committee in response to the Committee’s March 18, 2024, request for information.

Transparency on this issue is essential. DOE’s action has thrown vital U.S. businesses—companies that invest billions in capital in long-term projects, support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, and bolster the energy security of our allies—into turmoil as they grapple with uncertainty from politically-motived federal actions…

Further, the Committee is aware that on October 18, 2024, DOE provided a response to the aforementioned FOIA request, stating that “DOE did not find a final LNG export study in its search” for responsive documents. The Committee finds this disingenuous. The FOIA request to which DOE responded was not limited to a “final” study but clearly encompassed any draft study. DOE’s October 18th response, moreover, contradicted its September 14th acknowledgement that responsive documents existed. The clear implication is that one or more draft studies do exist, and DOE is attempting to cover that up.

The letter doesn't mention the Howarth study that was apparently later relied upon to justify a pause but, if the Biden-Harris Administration dropped and hid a neutral study by the NETL and then substituted a study by a Food & Water Watch Director as a foundation for its policy, that is a serious problem and something very rotten. A Trump-Vance Administration would likely lift the pause, but this violation of public trust by the Biden-Harris team cannot be allowed to simply disappear. It needs to be investigated until the full truth is exposed.

#Biden-Harris #LNG #Pause #Trump-Vance #Howarth