November 17, 2024 - BAKU, Azerbaijan— U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and U.S. and international advocates held a press conference Saturday at the COP29 climate talks to discuss the Biden administration's historic pause on liquified natural gas, or LNG, export approvals and urge completion of the Department of Energy's review before President-elect Trump takes office.
The event comes as reports indicate that DOE is rushing to finalize its analysis of LNG exports' economic and environmental impacts, setting up a critical 60-day window for action on pending terminals.
With mounting evidence that Europe's gas demand continues to decline and new research showing LNG's outsized climate harms, experts and advocates discussed the urgent need for the Department of Energy to account for the climate, health and economic harms of LNG exports and reject pending export authorizations before the transition.
Sen. Markey and advocates offered the following remarks:
“With Trump and the Republicans taking their turn at the political reins, oil and gas companies will soon have their pick of lackeys to enable their destructive, polluting LNG wish list,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). “Supercharged natural gas exports will be a new Trump energy tax on American households, costing households billions by sending fossil fuels abroad to the highest bidder. Big Oil has a business plan — and is only here at COP29 to make their business deals, at the expense of working families in the U.S. and frontline communities around the globe. But our climate-focused, people-powered, renewable plan is better, and we’re joining forces worldwide to fight for it and reject Big Oil’s attempt to put private profits over the public interest — no matter who’s president and no matter which cronies are at the controls.”
“More LNG exports will only encourage European nations to remain dependent on a resource that adds to the climate crisis and destabilizes nations,” said Ievgeniia Kopytsia, Ph.D., associate professor at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and research fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. “Europe’s use of LNG is declining as nations have realized how Putin financed his war of aggression in Ukraine using this dangerous resource. Increasing LNG exports only hurts Ukraine’s chances of transitioning to a prosperous clean energy economy, which will make us energy secure. Removing our dependence on fossil fuels is the single greatest step we can take to promote international security while protecting our planet simultaneously.”
“As we speak, the Philippines is bracing for another major storm — the 6th in just three weeks. Ending the proliferation of fossil fuels is a matter of life and death for us and the rest of climate-vulnerable Southeast Asia, said Gerry Arances, executive director of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development in the Philippines. “We are a region that has much potential for renewable energy, with nearly 400 GW currently proposed or under development. Emboldened by developed country governments and firms, massive plans for gas threaten to undermine this, at the cost of vulnerable communities, biodiverse ecosystems set to host gas infrastructure, and our energy transition as a whole. We do not need more gas or LNG. The Biden Administration is currently in a critical moment for the US to deliver on its accountability to developing nations like ours. It must deliver decisive action against continued LNG exportation.”
“My community’s nearly 20-year fight against Jordan Cove LNG in Oregon showed that when people come together to protect their health, land, and climate, we can win against fossil fuel giants — even during the Trump administration,” said Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. program manager at Oil Change International. “The science is clear: As the world's largest LNG exporter, with capacity expected to double through 2027, U.S. LNG exports have already surpassed climate limits. These facilities burden frontline communities with toxic air pollution while releasing methane at every step from fracking to transport. The International Energy Agency has made it clear in its Net Zero Emissions Scenario — to stay within 1.5 degrees Celsius, no new LNG infrastructure should be built. Yet, projects currently under construction will take us over the cliff. The economics don't add up either — investing in new LNG infrastructure risks creating stranded assets as the world transitions to renewable energy. We know there's a better way forward.”
“While Trump stacks his cabinet with a carnival of corporate cronies, President Biden has just weeks to halt some of the biggest carbon bombs on Earth,” said Ben Goloff, senior climate campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “From the Gulf Coast to Europe and Asia, U.S. LNG expansion is neither needed nor wanted. The Biden administration should urgently complete its review of LNG exports’ many harms. It should reject authorizations for monster polluter CP2 LNG export terminal and other pending projects that fail to meet the public interest test required by law, science and justice.”
LNG ship, San Juan Harbor, Puerto Rico Photo by Patrick Sullivan/Center for Biological Diversity
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Source: Center for Biological Diversity
