The House passed legislation Wednesday that aims to speed up federal approval of liquefied natural gas exports to nations that lack a free-trade deal with the United States.
The bill, approved 277-133, would require the Energy Department to rule on export applications by 30 days after a review that assesses the environmental effect of siting, building and operating export facilities. It comes as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set to discuss legislation Thursday that would implement a 45-day cap.
The White House, as well as congressional supporters of natural gas exports, has touted the potential for exports to destabilize Russia, which has used its dominance of European natural gas markets as a geopolitical weapon. But liberal Democrats have cautioned against opening the export spigot, contending doing so would raise prices for consumers and give away a competitive advantage for energy-intensive manufacturers.
Exports to nations without a free-trade agreement face more scrutiny from the Energy Department because approving them must be in the public interest by, for example, not significantly raising domestic prices. Republicans and Democrats who support sending more natural gas abroad contend the department takes too long to give the final OK to companies after they get approval to build sites from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“Delay has become a hallmark of this presidency, but Americans are done delaying job creation by ignoring America’s energy abundance,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
The Energy Department has addressed some industry concerns by eliminating a process of “conditional” approvals that would-be exporters said kept more shovel-ready projects waiting behind companies that were less likely to build their proposed sites. But the agency is concerned about setting a deadline for action because it wants to have time to examine information from the reviews conducted by FERC.
The Energy Department has approved 10.56 billion cubic feet per day of exports to non-free trade agreement countries, about 15 percent of U.S. daily production.
President Obama has not said if he would sign the legislation.
Exports would have a “marginal” impact on U.S. natural gas prices while bringing economic gains, Adam Sieminski, head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistics arm, said Wednesday at a Washington event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor and America’s Natural Gas Alliance.
