U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a long-time proponent of liquefied natural gas export, applauded the Department of Energy for its approval of a $14 billion facility in Texas.
Freeport LNG Development, which first applied for federal permits four years ago, broke ground on its gas export facility in Quintana, Texas, on Monday.
“I applaud Secretary (Ernest) Moniz’s efforts to expedite this process,” Murkowski, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said. “Going into the next Congress, I look forward to working with the secretary and my colleagues on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to provide even greater certainty to DOE’s LNG export application process so that our nation can act before this narrow window of opportunity closes.”
Murkowski had pressed the Department of Energy for final licenses for projects that had already been through environmental review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which approved the Freeport LNG project in July.
Freeport LNG chief executive officer Michael Smith compared getting the needed permits to walking past a sleeping snake, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle.
Liquefied natural gas is natural gas converted to liquid for ease of storage and transport, and takes up a fraction of the volume of natural gas.