The Texas Oil & Gas Association on Tuesday lauded a Monday decision by U.S. District Judge James Cain Jr. of Lake Charles, La., to grant a preliminary injunction barring the Biden administration’s delay of projects aimed at exporting liquefied natural gas.
Cain sided with 16 Republican states that had challenged the president’s January order and the Associated Press said it was unlikely that any of the LNG projects would be on a fast track for consideration because the U.S. Department of Energy had said late Monday that it disagreed with the court’s ruling and was evaluating its next steps.
“The court’s ruling to end the LNG export permit approval halt achieves the right result,” said TXOGA President Todd Staples from Austin. “U.S. natural gas has ushered in a new era of energy security by providing for needs here at home and to allies around the globe.
“The production and use of natural gas has resulted in billions of dollars being available to fund schools, roads and other basic needs. It is the dominant reason for declining CO2 emissions in the power sector and one of the most affordable energy sources available.
“Every family has benefitted from a robust natural gas sector and LNG exports play an ever-growing role in a stronger Texas and America,” Staples said.
A coalition of states including Louisiana, Alaska, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming sued in March, claiming that the Biden administration was violating the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws by banning the exportation of LNG to countries without a free trade agreement.
In temporarily blocking the Biden ban on new approvals, Cain said the states will likely succeed in their case. He cited evidence submitted by the plaintiffs that showed loss of revenues and deferred investments in LNG projects due to the administration’s actions, the AP reported.
The ruling came just after Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2 southwestern Louisiana project, often referred to as CP2, was approved with little discussion by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Republican members of Congress from Louisiana to Alaska have derided the administration’s pause as shortsighted and a boon to foreign adversaries that produce energy, including Iran and Russia. Other supporters have argued that projects such as CP2 will be critical to global energy security.
The environmental group Evergreen Action was among those to criticize Cain’s ruling, alleging that the judge was “bending the law to hand the oil industry a win.”
“Pause or no pause, the science is clear: No sound analysis that accounts for the climate and environmental harm inflicted by LNG exports could possibly determine that these deadly facilities are in the public interest,” Craig Segall, the group’s vice president, said.
According to the DOE, current authorizations for exports of LNG to non-free trade agreement countries stand at over 48 billion cubic feet per day, or more than 45 percent of U.S. domestic production of natural gas. The agency also said the U.S. will continue to be the largest exporter of LNG by a substantial margin for at least the next six years based on its current export capacity.
