OPINION:
The news from Europe is dire. Russia threatens to expand the war in Ukraine to NATO members. The Kremlin is planning military operations against the Baltic states, according to recently published intelligence reports. But Europe is also in the throes of energy insecurity because of its diminishing gas production and the Biden administration’s efforts to curtail liquefied natural gas export infrastructure.
The move will hurt not just our allies across the Atlantic but also the U.S. energy sector and, by extension, the American economy. If the United States forfeits its status as the world’s largest LNG exporter, it will cede this vital space to the Russians, Qataris and other producers, and hurt the green transition.
Nine Democrats joined all Republicans on Feb. 15 in approving the Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act, led by Rep. August Pfluger, Texas Republican, passed 224-200. Most likely, the legislation that would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the “exclusive authority” to approve LNG projects would not secure approval in the Senate.
Elsewhere, Kazuhiro Ikebe, chairman of Japan’s Federation of Electric Utilities, said his country’s power generation would be affected if Washington’s decision to pause liquefied natural gas export infrastructure permits became a long-term trend. On Feb. 13, the head of Shell’s LNG, gas and power division, Steve Hill, said that if the ban that the Biden White House imposed last month on new LNG export projects extended beyond a year, it would have a significant negative impact on the global market.
President Biden’s decision is informed by his political imperative ahead of his reelection bid in November. Already facing dissent within his party for his support of Israel after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Oct. 7, the president is hoping to counteract this sentiment by appeasing the climate activists. He hopes to reap damage control dividends from this move. Still, it has the potential to hurt U.S. national interests — both in terms of strategic competition and efforts toward cutting carbon emissions and replacing coal and diesel power generation.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a key challenge was Europe’s dependency on Moscow for natural gas. It wasn’t easy for the largest European power, Germany, to agree to cut its imports and deny Moscow the leverage. That shift was made possible by the U.S.’s ability to step in as an alternative source of natural gas.
Instead of building upon the fact that U.S. LNG supplies fulfill at least half of European demand, Mr. Biden’s move to halt the approval of new export permits sends the message to our closest allies that they cannot rely on America at a time when doing business with Russia is a risky proposition.
Just how relieved the Europeans were when the U.S. LNG relatively quickly became a reliable alternative to their long-standing dependency on piped Russian natural gas can be gauged from the remarks from Benjamin Lakatos, founder, chairman and CEO of MET Group, a major European energy trading firm based in Switzerland: “In the middle of the heavy turbulence, the U.S. had a stabilizing effect on the global gas prices,” he told Forbes.
One of the most prominent European private gas market players, MET, has inked a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. firm Commonwealth LNG for the supply of LNG over the next two decades. The move by Mr. Lakatos’ firm underscores the United States’ crucial role in Europe’s energy security efforts and the shared need to reduce prices that Mr. Biden’s measures may jeopardize.
Partisan politics do not just drive the Biden decision. It is built upon a false binary between fossil fuels and clean energy. Given that it pollutes at a small fraction of the rates that oil and coal do, LNG represents the middle ground. As a transition fuel, it allows our economy to meet our energy needs while developing truly competitive renewables.
Instead of engaging in ideological battles that further polarize our society and offer questionable electoral politics benefits, the Biden administration must promote nuanced conversations about global energy needs and climate change.
LNG represents an abundant resource that the United States has and can boost international energy security. The U.S. should not squander this moment and exacerbate our growing geopolitical challenges from authoritarian competitors in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Pacific.
• Kamran Bokhari is senior director of Eurasian security and prosperity at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington. He is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa. Follow him on X @KamranBokhari.
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