License To Drill

Some of Big Oil’s favorite Democrats are working to help their fossil fuel donors undercut one of President Joe Biden’s most consequential climate moves by reclassifying the companies’ dirty gas with “cleaner” branding.

In January, the Energy Department surprised the climate community and fossil fuel industry alike by pausing permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals while it revisits whether expanding gas exports is in the public interest. 

The United States is the world’s largest natural gas exporter, adding extra consequence to the development. The paused projects, which liquefy and transport gas to overseas markets, are projected to add more than 340 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution to the atmosphere each year if they are completed. 

In May, eight corporate-friendly House Democrats called on the Biden administration to lift the pause on all liquefied natural gas export permit approvals and allow third-party verification of methane emissions to instead safeguard growth in the gas-export market.