House Hearing Ignores Impacts Record LNG Exports Have On Increasing Energy Bills for American Households
Oversight Committee hearing doing the bidding of China to secure U.S. LNG, while American families and businesses bear higher energy burdens
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee today will hold a hearing to discuss President Joe Biden’s decision to temporarily pause new permits to export Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to countries that do not have free trade agreements with the United States. Federal law mandates that the federal government cannot approve gas exports to non-FTA nations unless they are first determined to be “consistent with the public interest.” Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, issued the following statement:
“The Oversight Committee fails to understand that it is Congress that demands LNG exports to be ‘consistent with the public interest.’ It is plainly not in the public interest to allow American families to be price gouged as the natural gas industry rakes in record profits from maximizing LNG exports to China at the expense of families and businesses here at home. LNG exports have dramatically upended domestic energy markets, and Congress should support—not condemn—efforts by the Department of Energy to ensure that energy affordability for American families is prioritized. That is plainly in the public interest.
“The export pause was necessary because the studies DOE relied on to assess the public interest—last updated during the first Trump Administration—have aged poorly, as they conclude that any increase in Americans’ energy bills caused by LNG exports will be offset by income they earn from stock ownership in gas companies. This laughably bad methodology aside, (they assumed that stock ownership concentrated among the wealthiest 1% of Americans is evenly distributed among the 99% poorest families) the pause is necessary to take the time to produce peer-reviewed data assessment to determine the impact record LNG exports have on the 42% of Americans who are low income.”
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