12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions · Notable
End climate-change interference in DOE approvals of LNG exports
Printed page 369 12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions
“Eliminate political and climate-change interference in DOE approvals of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.”
What has happened
- Partially done
DOE closed the record on the 2024 LNG Export Study, saying it would not revise the Study and that the Study and its comments would inform the public-interest determination in fifteen named non-FTA proceedings and in future ones. Partial rather than done: the Biden-era study, whose environmental and climate chapters were the interference the Quote complains of, was retained as an input rather than withdrawn, while the practical brake on approvals was released.
- Attempted
EO 14154 section 8(a) directed the Secretary of Energy to restart reviews of LNG export applications as expeditiously as possible and, in assessing the public interest, to consider economic and employment impacts and the security of allies and partners. The order names no climate factor, but it did not remove climate from DOE's public-interest analysis either.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Instrument: DOE’s Natural Gas Act section 3 export authorizations and the policy statements around them, not a rule with the Mandate’s phrase in it.
What moved: the export-commencement-deadline policy statement was rescinded (2 April 2025); the 2024 LNG Export Study comment record was closed (22 May 2025); DOE’s 10 CFR 590 procedures were amended (14 July 2025, see #958); and the NEPA categorical exclusion for export authorizations was retained (see #959).
What did not move: DOE has not disclaimed climate as a public-interest factor. Its response to comments says the Study will inform each determination.
- Action
- eliminate
- Object
- DOE approvals of LNG exports
- ID
- 927