A Biden administration measure that has been decried for months by oil and gas industry stakeholders has been paused by a court order.
A U.S. District Court judge in Louisiana on Monday granted a preliminary injunction putting a halt to the administration's order pausing pending decisions on exports of liquefied natural gas to non-fair-trade countries.
The stay came as the result of a challenge brought by a coalition of 16 states, including West Virginia.
The U.S. District Court Western District of Louisiana Lake Charles Division's ruling noted the states had shown "evidence of harm" as a result of the policy "...specifically to Louisiana, Texas, and West Virginia in the loss of revenues, market share, and deprivation of a procedural right.”
West Virginia is the nation's fifth-largest producer of energy, and the fourth-largest producer of natural gas, according to information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In 2022, West Virginia produced a record 2.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, more than five times greater than in 2012.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Monday's decision is a "big win for the country's energy industry."
“This administration’s Energy Department has no such authority to justify this ban — authority on matters like this lies with Congress and Congress alone,” he said in a press release.
Charlie Burd, executive director of the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia, echoed Morrisey's sentiments and thanked the attorney general for spearheading the legal challenge.
"The federal court lifting President Biden's misguided ban on U.S. LNG export approvals is a big win for American workers and global energy security," Burd said. "We appreciate Attorney General Morrisey's leadership in bringing this important legal challenge forward and calling on the Department of Energy to restart permit approvals for the natural gas exports that benefit America's economy, national security and the environment globally and at home."
First announced in late-January, the administration said the pause would last “until the Department of Energy can update the underlying analyses for authorizations.”
“The current economic and environmental analyses DOE uses to underpin its LNG export authorizations are roughly five years old and no longer adequately account for considerations like potential energy cost increases for American consumers and manufacturers beyond current authorizations or the latest assessment of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions,” the administration said. “Today, we have an evolving understanding of the market need for LNG, the long-term supply of LNG, and the perilous impacts of methane on our planet.”
The pause, which is subject to exception for unanticipated and immediate national security emergencies, is intended to “provide the time to integrate these critical considerations,” the administration said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., who responded to the ban by saying the nation’s LNG policy should be based on “facts, not politics,” later convened a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to explore LNG pricing.
“I believe that our first priority is ensuring that none of our exports harm U.S. families, businesses, or our economy,” Manchin said during the hearing. “Beyond that, we also have a responsibility to our allies and trading partners who may have no other choice but to turn to countries that don’t share our values if they can’t count on American support. The United States has shown that we can do both of those things.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the hearing highlighted the “inadequacy and the apparent political” motivation behind the pause.
“What I say is, Biden’s decision is he is choosing Putin over Pennsylvania. He’s choosing the Ayatollah over Appalachia,” she said. “And he is also choosing the Kremlin over the Kanawha in West Virginia. And he’s choosing Moscow over the Marcellus Shale. It’s clear in his decision. It’s a political decision that harms not just us, but greatly harms our allies.”