U.S. Senators Press White House to Speed Up LNG Export Approvals

U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and a coalition of pro-energy lawmakers pressed the White House to quickly review and act on a series of pending permits for LNG export facilities, citing the economic and foreign policy benefits for the United States and its allies abroad.

The lawmakers’ letter cites the U.S. Department of Energy’s swift approval of the recent Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas terminal in Oregon, which took less than two months to complete, and the need to quickly act on the two-dozen other pending permits.

U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Mary Landrieu (D-La.) as well as U.S. Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) co-signed the letter.

“As the turmoil in Ukraine continues, a number of our NATO allies in the region have expressed serious concerns about the vulnerability of their own natural gas supplies and the impacts of the current limited U.S. export policy,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “Our allies have emphasized that a strong market signal from the United States that it is a willing future supplier of LNG, even if those supplies are not immediately available, would have profound, positive and immediate strategic implications.”

The letter presses the U.S. Department of Energy to:

• Place additional weight upon the national security merits of each pending permit, including the ongoing crisis in Eastern Europe;
• Devote additional resources to the approval process to eliminate administrative bottlenecks; and,
• Accelerate and prioritize the consideration of projects that have concrete capital commitments.