LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — The Biden administration cannot delay consideration of projects aimed at exporting liquefied natural gas while a legal challenge by 16 Republican-led states plays out in federal court, a Louisiana judge said Monday.
U.S. District Judge James Cain, Jr. sided with the states and granted a preliminary injunction staying the Biden administration’s delay.
However, it was unlikely that any of the projects would be taken up anytime soon, as the U.S. Department of Energy said Monday night that it disagreed with the court ruling and was evaluating next steps. The White House also expressed disappointment.
“We remain committed to informing our decisions with the best available economic and environmental analyses, supported by sound science,” White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández said in an email to The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden decided in January that his administration would delay consideration of new natural gas export terminals in the United States, even as gas shipments to Europe and Asia surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move put the Democrat in conflict with environmentalists who fear that increased exports — in the form of liquefied natural gas, or LNG — could create potentially catastrophic global warming emissions.
A coalition of states including Louisiana, Alaska, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming filed a lawsuit in March, alleging that the government violated the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws by banning the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries without free trade agreements.
By temporarily blocking the Biden ban on new approvals, Cain said the states are likely to succeed in their case. He cited evidence submitted by the plaintiffs showing revenue losses and deferred investments in LNG projects because of the Biden administration’s actions.
The ruling comes just days after a federal commission approved the nation’s largest liquefied natural gas export terminal. Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2 southwestern Louisiana project, often referred to as CP2, was approved last week with little discussion by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
That project still needs DOE approval. The agency said the application for the project was pending.
Republican members of Congress from Louisiana to Alaska have derided the administration’s pause as shortsighted and a boon to foreign energy adversaries, including Iran and Russia. Other proponents have argued that projects like CP2 will be crucial to global energy security.
Environmental group Evergreen Action was among those criticizing Cain’s ruling, saying the judge “circumvented the law to give the oil industry a victory.”
“Pause or no pause, the science is clear: No amount of rigorous analysis that takes into account the climate and environmental problems that LNG exports pose can determine that these deadly facilities are in the public interest,” said Craig Segall, the group’s vice chairman.
According to the DOE, current LNG export authorizations to countries that do not have a free trade agreement amount to more than 48 billion cubic feet per day, or more than 45 percent of our current domestic natural gas production. The agency also said the U.S. will remain the largest exporter of LNG by a significant margin for at least the next six years based on current export capacity.
