16 States Sue Biden Admin over Natural Gas Exports Approval Pause

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A coalition of 16 states is suing the Biden administration over its January decision to pause approvals for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hubs.

The lawsuit, which names President Joe Biden, the Department of Energy (DOE) and high-ranking DOE officials as defendants, seeks declaratory and injunctive relief from the pause, which the White House announced on Jan. 26 to give the DOE time to assess the climate impacts of new LNG export capacity. The states filed their challenge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, alleging that the federal government broke the law by broadly denying relevant permits.

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Biden’s EPA Could Kneecap America’s Largest Natural Gas Exporter

The Biden administration is expanding restrictions on carbon emissions that could impact half the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity in the U.S.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expanding a rule under the U.S. Clean Air Act called the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Pollutants (NESHAP), which places restrictions on the emission of formaldehyde and benzene from stationary combustion turbines. Starting in August, the rule will now apply to two types of gas-fired turbines that were previously left out of the regulation, the EPA announced in February.

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Pennsylvania House Passes Bill to Create Natural Gas Task Force

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week passed legislation empaneling a task force to study ways to position Philadelphia as a leading exporter of natural gas to markets around the globe.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia), received the support of all Republicans in attendance but only 13 of the chamber’s Democrats. Among those Democrats were several representing areas above the Keystone State’s vast Marcellus Shale natural-gas deposit but also some legislators from the state’s southeast, including Reps. Tina Davis (D-Levittown), John Galloway (D-Fairless Hills), Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) and Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia).

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‘Reducing Europe’s Dependency’: Biden Strikes Deal to Boost Gas Exports to Europe

President Joe Biden and his European counterparts struck a deal Friday to send more U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union amid the ongoing global supply crunch.

The U.S. and European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, will form a joint task force with representation from both sides under the deal announced by Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Friday. The task force will seek to increase energy security for the EU and Ukraine in the run-up to next winter and the following winter while working to end European dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

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Trump Admin Ecstatic with Late-Night Deal That Broke Deadlock Over Natural Gas Exports

by Michael Bastasch   The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) broke a two-year partisan deadlock Thursday night to approve a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Louisiana. Top Department of Energy (DOE) officials said this was a major breakthrough that will alleviate a growing problem for U.S. energy producers — a lack of export infrastructure. “We have been promoting US energy around the world and today’s decision by the FERC is a very important one,” DOE Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. The Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal is the first such project to get FERC approval in two years. Republican FERC commissioners Neil Chatterjee, the chairman and Bernard McNamee worked with Democrat Cheryl LaFleur to hash out an agreement to get her support. Chatterjee and McNamee needed LaFleur’s vote to approve Calcasieu Pass, which they secured after working out a new approach to account for greenhouse gas emissions from the export facility. “This is a tremendous breakthrough,” DOE Under Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes told TheDCNF. “We hope it will serve as an analytical template going forward.” Once complete, Calcasieu Pass terminal will export up 12 million metric tons of LNG…

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