Advertisement
This is member-exclusive content
icon/ui/info filled

newsPolitics

Overturning Biden’s LNG order key to expanding Texas’ energy industry, congressman says

San Angelo’s August Pfluger spoke about energy and infrastructure needs during a media event alongside the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE — In an event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, singled out two key agenda items for his constituents in the oil-producing Permian Basin: overturning a Biden administration directive on liquefied natural gas and passing legislation to ease permitting delays for major infrastructure projects.

Both actions must be “at the top of the list,” Pfluger said at a discussion held Wednesday by Punchbowl News and sponsored by ExxonMobil.

The San Angelo Republican described Biden’s decision, announced in January, as a “ban on energy exports” that needs to be “immediately reversed.”

Advertisement

“We need to be sending LNG (liquefied natural gas) all over the world,” Pfluger told the crowd. “That’s American jobs. That’s adding to our” gross domestic product. He added that LNG exports are of geopolitical importance as an alternative to importing fuel from Russia, especially in Europe.

Political Points

Get the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond.

Or with:

However, Mark Finley, a fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said it’s misleading to call Biden’s decision a “ban.” The directive does not affect facilities already in use or those that have permits and are in the works, Finley said in an email.

Advertisement

“It didn’t impact any existing LNG exports, and it didn’t impact future LNG export terminals that had already been permitted,” Finley said. “That said, it certainly was a concern to countries that import U.S. LNG and plan to do more so in the future, such as Japan.”

The U.S. is home to seven operational LNG terminals and at least five that are expected to come online in the coming years, according to The Associated Press. Biden’s move doesn’t affect those projects, but the directive could impact more than a dozen others.

Texas has two operational LNG terminals, one in Corpus Christi and one in Freeport.

Advertisement

Six other Texas facilities were approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission but are not yet operational. They are in Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, Freeport, Corpus Christi and two in Brownsville.

Even using just its existing LNG capacity, the U.S. is already the world’s leading exporter of such gas. It’s also a net exporter of oil, including both crude and refined products, and is the largest gross exporter of refined products as well as one of the world’s largest crude oil exporters, Finley said.

Hugh Daigle, a petroleum and geosystems professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said via email that Biden’s move could mean that the United States is missing out on future growth possibilities for LNG.

“But this pause was supposed to be temporary anyway, so the long-term effect is difficult to predict and may be negligible,” he said.

A legislative overhaul of the permitting process for major infrastructure projects, including a wide range of energy-related and transportation projects, has attracted some bipartisan support in recent years. However, none have made it over the finish line in Congress.

During the Punchbowl News discussion, Pfluger said he sees room to attract Democratic lawmakers on the issue. Permitting legislation would aim to ease the construction of new transmission corridors, which are important for hooking up the growing renewable energy sector, including solar and wind, to the rest of the energy network, the congressman said.

“We can get past some of the permitting hurdles and some of the litigation hurdles that we have, so this country can truly use [energy] as a national security tool,” Pfluger said. “That is going to be my focus. And I know based on (Republican presidential nominee Donald) Trump’s previous policies that it will be one of his focuses as well” if he wins in November.