Committee Advances Bill

Photo: Sergio Chapa

Fred H. Hutchison, President & CEO of LNG Allies, The USLNG Association, praised members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for voting 15 to 4 in favor of S. 4753, the Permitting Reform Act of 2024:

“Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso and their Energy Committee colleagues have produced a strong, bipartisan bill that will accelerate deployment of a diverse set of clean energy technologies, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. The bill sets a 90-day ‘shot-clock’ on the Department of Energy’s LNG licensing process. Applying to both pending and future LNG export applications, the bill would require DOE to act expeditiously and preclude any future LNG moratoria, of either a formal or informal nature.”

The Biden administration only issued U.S. LNG permits during a one-year period—from March 2022 to March 2023. It has refused to act since then. Hutchison said: “While a formal ‘pause’ was instituted by the administration on Jan. 26, 2024, we’ve been under an informal moratorium for 18 months.”

The Senate Energy Committee rejected an amendment offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to strip the LNG provisions from the Manchin-Barrasso bill. The Sanders amendment was rejected by a vote of 13 to 6, with four Democratic senators voting with all nine Republicans. Regarding the vote on the Sanders amendment, Hutchison said: “U.S. LNG exports have long enjoyed broad bipartisan support. Today’s vote on the Sanders amendment has proved that a strong majority continues to understand just how important LNG exports have become for the United States and the world.”