A top Energy Department official said the agency wouldn’t have a problem complying with a Senate bill that aims to speed up approval of natural gas exports to nations that lack a free-trade agreement with the United States.
The bipartisan bill from Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., aims to cap DOE reviews of such exports at 45 days following completion of a National Environmental Policy Act review, which evaluates environmental impacts of siting, building and operating energy and infrastructure projects.
“We believe this is a solution we will be able to comply with,” Christopher Smith, assistant secretary for fossil energy at DOE, said Thursday during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. Under law, exports to non-free trade nations face greater federal scrutiny to determine whether those deals are in the public interest.
Smith’s comments came after the White House told the Washington Examiner that it doesn’t “believe additional legislation is necessary.” It said the process has been going smoothly, citing DOE’s elimination of conditional approvals, which industry said kept projects more likely to get built from getting considered before earlier applicants.
President Obama is likely to face pressure from both Democrats and Republicans to sign legislation to shorten reviews. The House passed a bill Wednesday by a 277-133 vote that drew the support of nearly a quarter of Democrats to impose a 30-day deadline on export decisions.
Most if not all Republicans are likely to support the Senate legislation. Democrats from natural gas states — such as New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich — also back the bill, as do those who view exporting natural gas as a benefit to allies by breaking Russia’s stranglehold over European energy supplies. While U.S. exports wouldn’t likely head to Europe, they’d free up supplies elsewhere.
While the White House has sounded a discriminatory tone on legislation, administration officials have been involved in the process. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has been working with bill co-sponsor Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., on the export measure. Hoeven told National Journal that the 45-day window is what Moniz had suggested. The White House has in the past also touted the geopolitical benefits of expanding natural gas exports.
Some Democrats, however, are worried green-lighting too many exports would raise domestic natural gas prices, hitting consumers and manufacturers.
“I’m desperately concerned about manufacturing jobs,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said in the hearing. “I don’t want a China-first policy, which it appears this is.”
An analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration concluded exporting natural gas would raise domestic prices marginally, but would yield economic gains in all scenarios.
