The Energy Department said Monday that the environmental impacts of natural gas export terminals fall outside of its authority — signaling that the Trump administration may not give significant consideration to these impacts as it evaluates gas export projects going forward.
The statement comes in response to a 2024 draft study published at the very end of the Biden administration detailing the environmental, economic and other impacts of gas exports.
The Biden administration’s study comes after it paused approvals on new gas export projects, saying it needed to reevaluate the broad implications of shipping more U.S. gas abroad. The administration included a 60-day comment period along with the draft study.
On Monday, the Trump administration published a response to those comments — giving some clues as to how it would assess gas export projects going forward.
The Trump commentary did not deny the environmental impacts found by its predecessor, including impacts to air pollution stemming from nearby communities.
But unlike the Biden administration, it said that these impacts are outside of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) jurisdiction, and therefore should not be considered in its approvals of gas export projects.
“Natural gas production, processing, and transportation have environmental effects. Federal, state, and local regulatory requirements that are outside DOE’s authority over LNG [liquefied natural gas] exports include measures to reduce or mitigate any potential related impacts,” the Trump commentary states.
It also said that “the denial of LNG export authorizations would be too blunt an instrument to address the concerns raised.”
This stands in contrast with the Biden administration, which said that “Understanding the many environmental and societal effects of natural gas production and export …is part of DOE’s consideration of the public interest in reviewing applications to export natural gas.”
In addition, the Trump-era commentary also downplays the Biden administration’s findings about the increases in price that would come with exporting natural gas.
The Biden administration found that “higher U.S. LNG export levels in 2050 are associated with higher U.S. residential natural gas prices.”
However, the Trump administration described any price increases as “relatively modest.”
Overall, Trump administration official Tala Goudarzi said in a written statement that the response to the study “will allow DOE to close out this chapter and fully return to regular order on LNG exports.”
“The 2024 Study confirms what our nation always knew — LNG supports our economy, strengthens our allies, and enhances national security. Biden’s opposition defied reason and reality and hurt American progress,” said Goudarzi, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, in a written statement.
Environmental activists, meanwhile, described the Trump administration’s commentary as ignoring the costs of gas exports.
“No matter how hard they try to hide it, Trump’s DOE can not bury the truth that increased LNG exports are simply not in the public interest. The facts are clear, LNG exports raise costs to Americans’ energy bills, are disastrous for frontline communities, increase public health harms, and perpetuate the climate crisis. Big Oil and Gas CEOs are the only beneficiaries of a rubberstamp for LNG projects,” said Sierra Club beyond fossil fuels policy director Mahyar Sorour in a written statement.
