Oil and gas industry groups outlined regulatory changes that could save natural gas export terminals millions of dollars each year in comments they filed with federal safety regulators this week.
But environmental and safety groups criticized the Trump administration for focusing its effort to rewrite the rules for handling liquefied natural gas on cost-cutting instead of safety.
It “focuses largely on the costs and benefits to industry and fails to consider the appropriate scope and contents of updated safety regulations for LNG facilities,” the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice said in joint comments on the notice the administration issued seeking input on the rewrite.
The Pipeline Safety Trust, a safety advocacy group, said the administration’s approach should not be so “obviously biased” in favor of reducing regulatory burdens.
