U.S. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) led 39 of their Republican colleagues from both houses of Congress in questioning the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) about its justification for halting approvals of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.
“The Biden-Harris administration has used every tool in their arsenal to attack American energy production, including relying on a flawed study to shut down LNG exports — endangering energy security for the U.S. and our allies,” Rep. Pfluger said. “President Biden and Vice President Harris must answer for their political targeting of the Permian Basin.”
“From the very beginning, it was clear that there was never any real basis for pausing LNG exports earlier this year; it was always about politics,” said Sen. Scott. “The American people deserve better, and they need answers as to how much influence a flawed, biased study had on the administration’s decision-making.”
Specifically, the lawmakers are referring to the study titled “The Greenhouse Gas Footprint of LNG Exported from the United States,” published by Robert Howarth, which the DOE relied on to justify its Jan. 26 moratorium on approvals of LNG export projects, according to a Sept. 26 letter the members sent to DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
“It was widely reported that the Howarth study, which claims that U.S. LNG is worse for the climate than coal, heavily influenced the Biden-Harris administration’s decision,” they wrote. “Perplexingly, Mr. Howarth published his study before it was peer reviewed — at the behest of climate activists — and has revised it multiple times in recent months.”
Rep. Pfluger, Sen. Scott, and their colleagues also pointed out that the non-partisan Breakthrough Institute in July published a review of the Howarth study, entitled “A Major Paper on Liquified Natural Gas Emissions Is Riddled with Errors,” which identified errors in the study’s assumptions, methodology, and conclusions.
“Specifically, the review found that Mr. Howarth used incorrect data regarding the source of natural gas exported as LNG, leakage rates, and shipping distances, as well as an “incontrovertibly flawed methodology” to calculate the climate impact of U.S. LNG,” according to their letter.
Because of such questions being raised about the accuracy of the Howarth study’s findings, the lawmakers requested that Granholm answer several questions by Oct. 31, including if she directed the study, and if so, whether the DOE directed the methodology, and to what extent the DOE relied on the Howarth study in justifying its moratorium on reviews of LNG exports.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s moratorium on LNG export projects is a threat to our national and economic security,” wrote the lawmakers. “It is imperative that the DOE is transparent regarding the process by which it came to this costly conclusion.”
Among the members who also signed the letter were U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and U.S. Reps. Troy Balderson (R-OH), Mike Carey (R-OH), Michael Burgess (R-TX), French Hill (R-AR), Bob Latta (R-OH), Mike Kelly (R-PA), John Joyce (R-PA), and Rudy Yakym (R-IN).