Dozens of environmental groups joined together Monday to push the Department of Energy to make sure climate change and domestic energy prices are major priorities in the agency’s new analysis of liquefied natural gas exports.
The groups, led by the Sierra Club, also called for a focus on environmental justice — the effort to reduce pollution that takes a disproportionate toll on communities of color and certain rural and low-income areas.
It’s “past time for a robust review of LNG export proposals and our frontline communities, domestic consumers, and manufacturers are actively suffering as a result,” the groups said in a letter delivered to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and shared with POLITICO’s E&E News.
In late January, DOE paused approvals of new LNG exports to countries that the U.S. does not have free trade agreements with — a move with big potential implications for President Joe Biden’s reelection bid that was praised by environmentalists and condemned by fossil fuel supporters. The department is now conducting an economic and climate analysis on LNG that will help inform future decisions to approve or deny exports.
