Top Biden official at Senate hearing defends LNG pause By Reuters

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A top U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) official on Huanma ForexThursday defended President Joe Biden's pause on approvals of liquefied (LNG) exports at a Senate hearing called by a fellow Democrat who said he will investigate the decision.

Biden paused the approvals so his administration can take a "hard look" at the environmental and economic impacts of the booming industry.

Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary David Turk told the Senate energy committee that the department will finish the review as quickly as possible but it will be rigorous and he could not predict a "particular timeline" on its completion.

"It will not affect our ability to supply our allies. And it is not an unprecedented step," Turk said, adding that it does not affect already approved exports.

A U.S. official earlier on Thursday told Reuters that the review would require "months of work, not years of work" and that the Biden administration was confident that it would not jeopardize global energy security.

The official said the review needs to analyze whether more U.S. LNG exports could slow the adoption abroad of green hydrogen - where hydrogen fuel production would be powered by renewable energy instead of gas.

The United States took the spot as the world's top LNG exporter last year amid strong demand from Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the shipments are expected to double by the end of the decade and keep growing rapidly after that on projects already approved.

Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from natural gas producer West Virginia who called the hearing, said the pause sends the wrong signal to allies in Europe and Asia. Manchin said the pause signals "the wrong direction for our country, a very wrong direction."

The European Commission has said that the move will not have any short- to medium-term impacts on the EU's security of supply.

Environmentalists and youth groups, an important part of Biden's base, had pressured Biden to slow approvals of fossil fuel projects on concerns about their emissions of greenhouse gases. Domestic businesses ranging from chemicals and steel to food and agriculture also oppose unrestricted exports of U.S. gas, saying it could raise fuel prices.

Opponents of the pause including Senator John Barrasso, a Republican, have said that it was a political stunt ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

It is unclear how lawmakers who oppose the pause can overturn it. Legislation in both the Senate and the House of Representatives would strip the DOE's power to approve exports, giving all approvals to the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

But it is hard to pass legislation in an election year. Even if it passed the House, the legislation would likely struggle in the Senate, led by Democrats.

The pause could face court challenges. A group of 23 Republican state attorneys general in a letter sent to the administration on Tuesday claimed that the Biden administration's pause is illegal, arguing that the natural gas law requires the DOE to approve LNG exports unless it shows that doing so would not be in the public interest.

The group, led by West Virginia, Kansas, Louisiana and Indiana, claimed that the pause is based on "allusions to environmental harms" and conflicts with the congressional intent in the gas law.

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