At Thursday Senate Hearing, Public Citizen Will Urge Against Expanded Liquefied Natural Gas Exports
MEDIA ADVISORY
At Thursday Senate Hearing, Public Citizen Will Urge Against Expanded Liquefied Natural Gas Exports
Such Exports Would Harm Households, U.S. Manufacturers and the Climate
WHAT: Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, will testify (PDF) at a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources hearing examining the role of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) in meeting European energy demands. Slocum will explain how increasing U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas would harm households, domestic manufacturing and the climate.
A lobbying campaign by the natural gas industry to justify expanded LNG exports prioritizes the financial interests of gas producers at the expense of U.S. households and American value-added manufacturing, Slocum will say. The push to increase exports is all about increasing prices – and frackers’ profits.
The ability of LNG exports to increase American influence to counteract geopolitical ills, such as countering Russian natural gas supply to Europe, is limited, Slocum will say. European Union demand is projected to contract, in part because of policies promoting low-cost renewable energy. But natural gas will continue to boom in Asia. Chinese gas growth is primarily being driven by increased industrial demand – which means U.S. LNG exports will fuel China’s manufacturing industry at the expense of our own.
Increasing LNG exports will lead to higher domestic natural gas production, and, absent strong federal methane and climate change regulations, will cause significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions. It is reckless to promote LNG exports while failing to implement federal protections to address the impact LNG exports will have on climate change.
WHEN: 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 13
WHERE: Room 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building, 50 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, D.C.
WHO: Tyson Slocum, director, Public Citizen’s Energy Program
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