Report of White House pause on Venture Global CP2 LNG project decision sparks cheers, outcry

The White House is delaying a key permitting decision for Venture Global's CP2 LNG export project in Louisiana and directing the US Department of Energy to expand its review of the project, the New York Times reported Jan. 24, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

A White House spokesperson declined to confirm the report or otherwise comment Jan. 24. But representatives of some US industry groups believed the report to be accurate, declining to comment before an announcement from the Biden administration anticipated as soon as Jan. 26.

Venture Global spokesperson Shaylyn Hynes said in response to the Times report that "it appears that individuals within the White House are trying to force policymaking through leaks to the media" and that such an action "would shock the global energy market."

"This continues to create uncertainty about whether our allies can rely on US LNG for their energy security," Hynes said. "If this leaked report from anonymous White House sources is true, it appears the administration may be putting a moratorium on the entire US LNG industry."

Broader changes possible

The Jan. 24 development came amid reports that the White House is considering broader changes to the criteria the DOE uses to approve new permits for new LNG projects. Politico on Jan. 8 first reported the policy review, saying the administration is whether the DOE is properly accounting for climate, national security and economic impacts of projects and citing an unnamed senior administration official.

The Times reported the White House is directing the DOE to expand its consideration of the impact of the 20 million mt/year CP2 project on climate change, the economy and national security. The project is also awaiting a key approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Some industry participants warned that the election-year development threatened to hold up pending projects and chill long-term contracting tied to some US projects.

Environmentalists said the report, if accurate, would mark an important step forward after advocates leaned hard on the White House to scale back approvals enabling a major expansion of US LNG export capacity that they believe will undermine climate goals.

The development, if true, would be "tremendous" and would represent an acknowledgement that the current process needs to be reformed, Moneen Nasmith, senior attorney at Earthjustice, said.

In 2023, the DOE denied the need for a rulemaking on its process for making public interest determinations for LNG exports, she noted.

There has been a lot of hard work from advocates to make the case that those determinations must take into account impacts on climate, domestic energy prices and environmental justice, she said.

'Bold and historic decision'

Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous said in a Jan. 24 statement that stopping expanded gas exports "is one of the most important moves President Biden could make on addressing the climate crisis."

"It would mark a bold and historic decision and a major win for communities and advocates that have long spoken out about the dangers of LNG," Jealous said.

The American Petroleum Institute continued to warn about costs of such a pause.

"This would be a win for Russia and a loss for American allies, US jobs and global climate progress," API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement Jan. 24. "There is no review needed to understand the clear benefits of US LNG for stabilizing global energy markets, supporting thousands of American jobs and reducing emissions around the world by transitioning countries toward cleaner fuels."

Environmental advocates and progressive Democratic lawmakers have been arguing that the broad studies of climate impacts and economic impacts that the DOE has relied upon for its public interest determinations were long overdue for an update.

Pressure on administration

Pressures on the Biden administration were amplified by calls from advocates for the Biden administration to demonstrate it was keeping promises on climate to help shore up young voter enthusiasm ahead of the presidential election.

Reports of a possible decision come as Bill McKibben and other activists are planning a three-day sit-in demonstration at the DOE in early February to protest new LNG export facilities and specifically call on the administration to reject the CP2 project.

McKibben in a statement responding to the Times report described the pause on CP2 as a "courageous step."

"With this decision, President Biden -- who already can claim to have done more to bolster clean energy than any of his predecessors -- has also done more to check dirty energy, halting the largest fossil fuel expansion in history," McKibben said.