White House Doubles Down On Liquified Natural Gas Export Ban

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre doubled down on President Joe Biden’s decision to ban exports of liquified natural gas today from the White House podium. During her daily briefing Jean-Pierre said that the President has taken this action against liquified natural gas because of climate change.

The action, announced in January of this year, puts a temporary pause on all contract approvals for LNG exportation, and took additional action to ban the exportation of LNG from the United States in total. A report published by Offshore Technology this morning told us that the White House is allegedly considering lifting this ban to get additional aid for the Nation of Ukraine.

The U.S. exported, on average, 11.9 billion cubic feet of LNG every single day in 2023. A 12% increase from the export numbers from the calendar year 2022. Offshore Technology reports,

US officials are considering ending President Joe Biden’s pause on approvals for LNG exports in a move that could help gain support for a Ukraine aid package in Congress.

At the end of January, the Biden administration announced a temporary ban on LNG exports to countries with which it does not have free trade agreements and allowing the Department of Energy (DOE) to investigate the environmental impacts of LNG export projects. The ban has been met with scorn from Republicans, with the Republican-held House passing a bill to reverse the decision in February and 16 red states filing a lawsuit against it in March, claiming it had no “factual or legal basis”.

Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, Republican US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson suggested that lifting the ban could make his party more likely to form a consensus with the Democrats to support Ukraine.

Offshore Techonology

Despite these reports, the White House Press Secretary showed no intention today that the Biden Administration is considering removing the ban on LNG exports anytime soon. Karine Jean-Pierre can be quoted as saying today from the White House podium,

The President supports the pause on pending additional approvals of LNG export licenses to evaluate the economic and climate impact. He supports that pause.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

See a clip of the White House Press Secretary making that statement on the Biden White House’ ban on the export of LNG in the clip below,

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Biden "supports" banning liquified natural gas exports due to "climate impacts"

pic.twitter.com/eg2lLxBsKA

— Slingshot News (@NewsSlingshot) April 3, 2024