U.S. Reps. Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA) joined two other members of the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in ongoing oversight of the U.S. Department of Energy’s role in the Biden administration’s temporary pause on pending approvals of American exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The letter is the third the committee has sent to the Department of Energy (DOE) raising concerns about the lack of a scientific basis for the LNG pause, which DOE initiated on Jan. 26 for all pending applications for the export of LNG to non-free-trade-agreement countries in order to update the economic and environmental analyses that inform whether applications are in the public interest.
The pause follows the July 30 report released by the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental research center located in Berkeley, Calif., entitled “A Major Paper on Liquified Natural Gas Emissions Is Riddled with Errors,” which says the LNG pause is basically based on a “flawed methodology.”
The report “has confirmed and exacerbated many of the committee’s concerns regarding the lack of scientific justification for this pause,” the lawmakers wrote in an Aug. 12 letter sent to DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “As a result, the committee requests additional transparency from the department on the process to update analyses of the economic and environmental impacts of LNG exports.”
Rep. Lucas, chairman of the committee, and Rep. Obernolte, chairman of its Subcommittee on Investigations & Oversight, were joined in signing the letter by Energy Subcommittee Chairman Brandon Williams (R-NY) and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Max Miller (R-OH).
The committee members in February requested but did not receive scientific evidence from DOE supporting the pause. In April, they sent a follow-up letter to DOE requesting all documents and communication between or among department staff referring or relating to economic and environmental analyses of LNG export projects. However, no documents or communications meeting this criterion have been received, wrote the lawmakers.
“The department has yet to fully answer the committee’s oversight inquiries and disclose key details underpinning the economic and environmental analysis process that has been undertaken,” they wrote.
Rep. Lucas, Rep. Obernolte, and their colleagues noted that DOE’s continued refusal to provide the requested documents, communication, and scientific evidence has “led to this inflection point.”
They requested that DOE be fully transparent and provide the previously requested documentation, communications, and scientific evidence, and also provide responses to all new pending questions by Aug. 27.