U.S. House Passes Legislation to Expedite LNG Exports

Press Release

Today the House of Representatives passed legislation cosponsored by Congressman Kevin Cramer to expedite the approval of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects. The LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act would bring certainty to the federal approval process for LNG export applications, which are estimated to create up to 45,000 American jobs by 2018 while increasing national energy security.

Despite the domestic and geopolitical benefits of exporting LNG, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has often served as a barrier to export applications by delaying their approval. Since 2010, DOE has only issued a final decision on five of 37 applications to export LNG to countries with which the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement. Today's legislation would place a 30 day deadline on DOE to issue a final decision following the conclusion of the required environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

"As the largest producer of natural gas in the world, we ought to use the peaceful tool of energy production and export in lieu of the weapons of war. Vladimir Putin's aggression in the Ukraine should be met with an equal zeal for natural gas export to Europe. Our allies need to know they can count on us as the supplier of choice of natural gas, so they are not captive to Russia's supply," said Cramer.

In the last session of Congress, Cramer voted for similar legislation in the form of the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act, which passed the U.S. House on June 25, 2014.

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