OPINION:
As if we didn’t know for certain already, serving the climate cult is a higher priority to the Biden administration than helping Americans or our allies. Last month, President Biden announced in a teleconference with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm that all current and future liquefied natural gas export application approvals are on hold until further notice.
The pause immediately affects 11 projects awaiting Department of Energy approval after already going through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s lengthy approval process. If six other projects that have yet to complete FERC reviews go forward, they would likewise be put on ice as long as the order stands. And that’s likely to remain in place beyond the November election.
“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,” the official Biden statement read. “We will not cede to special interests,” he added in ceding to the special interests of extremist environmentalists and their demands. Activists waged an intense campaign with dozens of environmental groups imploring Ms. Granholm to reject the LNG development “for the sake of our climate and communities.”
In December, a letter from 170 scientists (whose qualifications in science and energy include being a health care provider, a business owner, something called a science communicator, an epidemiologist, and an aerospace researcher) asked Mr. Biden to reject pending LNG facilities.
Perhaps Ms. Granholm forgets that she referred to Russian gas in 2021 as the “dirtiest form of natural gas on Earth.” Maybe she missed the Department of Energy-sponsored study that found that the gas Europe buys from Russia produces as much as 22% more greenhouse gas emissions than European Union coal and that American LNG shipped to Europe produces up to 56% fewer emissions than EU coal.
According to another analysis, the emission intensity of Russia’s substandard oil and gas products is nearly double the industry average. But if Ms. Granholm’s goal was to leave a larger carbon footprint while cutting America out of the picture, then mission accomplished.
While freezing LNG export projects was an unprecedented move, waging war on domestic energy production is nothing new for this president. In 2019, then-candidate Joe Biden declared, “I guarantee you, we’re gonna end fossil fuel.”
Since taking office, he has worked to make good on the pledge, starting with killing the Keystone XL pipeline on his inauguration day, along with 26,100 direct and indirect jobs that would have come with the project. Hypocritically, Mr. Biden supported the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.
Mr. Biden has continued his assault by halting new oil and gas drilling on federal land, rejoining the Paris climate agreement (mandating greenhouse gas emission reductions that don’t apply to China), imposing rules increasing the cost of oil and gas production, and mandating a transition to electric vehicles. While none of these policies have or will ever lower the Earth’s temperature by any measurable amount, they have driven up Americans’ utility and transportation costs.
After decades of climate predictions that never come true, and as Americans learn how the push for green energy is all pain and no gain, they’re no longer on board with the “climate crisis.” A new poll reveals that 45% of Americans 18 to 34 wouldn’t be willing to pay more than $10 a month to combat climate change, including 1 in 5 young voters stating they wouldn’t pay a single dime. Only 18% are willing to donate between $1 and $10 to fight it.
It’s also important to note that at a time when new NATO ally Finland has courageously pledged to ban Russian LNG imports, the Biden administration is banning American LNG exports to Finland and the rest of Europe. And shutting down American LNG exports rolls out the red carpet to increase European gas imports from Russia.
“The U.S. is committed to affordable energy and economic opportunities for all Americans,” Ms. Granholm said in announcing the LNG project ban, disingenuously adding, “We are committed to strengthening energy security here in the U.S. and with our allies.”
America and its allies need natural gas, not gaslighting.
• Steve Milloy is a senior legal fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute.
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