Climate crisis and elections pause US LNG export boom
The American gas industry aims to double national production in 3-4 years
– The November elections (and the climate crisis) freeze the US export boom of LNG. President Joe Biden has decreed a stop to all the plans of expansion of the ability to export of liquified natural gas: a new appraisal of their climatic impact is needed. One request, that of putting a brake on exports, has come to the White House in recent months from many environmental organizations in the United States. An important part of Biden’s electoral base is looking for confirmation for the 2nd term.
“We will look deeply at the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security and our environment. This pause on new LNG approvals looks at the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time,” Biden writes.
The US LNG export is a “carbon bomb” for the world
There are at least 4 major US LNG export projects affected by the temporary stop. All are located on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Between Calcasieu Pass 2, a terminal on which hangs an investment of 10 billion dollars that, to the regime, could export 24 million tons of fossil gas every year. The infrastructure was branded by the Sierra Club as a “carbon bomb” that would put the United States on the wrong trajectory to meet climate commitments. And it would exacerbate the climate crisis with global consequences.
However, this is not about a single plant. It is the entire striped-star gas industry that is planning a boom in production that can hardly be compatible with Washington’s emissions-cutting targets. Already today, the USA is the largest global producer of hydrocarbons and holds a 20% share of world LNG exports. Within 3-4 years, the American gas industry aims to double its production capacity.
How much Biden’s decision is pure electoral tactics or what, instead, will result in a scientifically rigorous evaluation and will lead to even more drastic choices, will be seen in the coming months. There is no doubt that the current administration also wants to use the theme of the climate crisis to win at the polls next November, while the probability increases that the challenger is again Donald Trump, the architect of the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement.
While pro-trump Republicans “willingly deny the urgency of the climate crisis, condemning the American people to a dangerous future, my administration will not be complacent. We will not give in to special interests“, concludes Biden’s statement.
