Biden’s LNG Move Elicits Bipartisan Suspicion, Criticism

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin

Members of congress from both parties have weighed in in recent days to slam last week’s announcement by the Biden White House placing a hold on progressing federal permits through the system pending a formal review.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV) promised on Friday to use his power to investigate the reasons behind the unprecedented policy action. “If the Administration has the facts to prove that additional LNG export capacity would hurt Americans, they must make that information public and clear,” Manchin said in a statement. “But if this pause is just another political ploy to pander to keep-it-in-the-ground climate activists at the expense of American workers, businesses and our allies in need, I will do everything in my power to end this pause immediately.”

Writing at the Wall Street Journal Monday, Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy posits Manchin will not have to look hard to find such pandering. “Here’s the truth,” Kennedy writes. “Climate warriors want President Biden to destroy America’s fossil-fuel industry, but he doesn’t want to pull the trigger himself. By withholding permits, the president can scare away investors, bleed these projects of capital, and claim to have clean hands if the terminals close.”

Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy

Indeed, the White House’s own press release announcing the delay boasted of praise from many power players in the anti-fossil fuels activist community, including Climate Defiance, Fossil Free Media’s Jamie Henn, and Bill McKibben, who heralded the decision as a step towards the end of natural gas. “With this decision, President Biden—who already can claim to have done more to bolster clean energy than any of his predecessors—has also done more to check dirty energy, halting the largest fossil fuel expansion in history,” McKibben said in the Wall Street Journal.