Manchin backs effort in US Congress to fight pause on LNG export reviews

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin supports action by the US Congress to fight the Biden Administration's pause on key LNG export application reviews, he said in a brief interview Feb. 27 with S&P Global Commodity Insights.

"The pause needs to be paused," the West Virginia Democrat said on the sidelines of the NARUC 2024 Winter Policy Summit, adding that he expected Congress to act on the matter.

The Biden administration Jan. 26 announced that it would pause pending and new applications at the Department of Energy for LNG exports to non-free trade agreement nations. The hold, which followed months of advocacy from environmental activists, would last for some months until the DOE can update how it considers the impacts of new terminals on the economy, climate change and national security, administration officials have said.

The swing Democrat's stance on congressional action is important because backing from Senate Democrats will be needed for any legislation to fight the pause. Pennsylvania's two Democratic senators have spoken out against the administration's move and Senator Michael Bennet, Democrat-Colorado has raised concerns on geostrategic grounds. But it is not yet clear if which, if any, proposals will garner adequate Senate support.

Manchin left open precisely what form of congressional action he would back in an effort to "pause the pause."

"There's a lot of ways," he said.

A bipartisan group of House members recently floated language to block the DOE from spending funds to alter the public interest determination standards it uses to review LNG exports. The lawmakers hope to convince congressional leadership to include that in the fiscal year 2024 energy and water funding bill.

Senator John Barrasso, Republican-Wyoming, has also crafted a measure to put a time limit on the DOE reviews once the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves the export terminals.

In addition, the House of Representatives has several times approved a more far-reaching measure to strip the DOE of its role reviewing the LNG exports, though that may have a tougher time garnering sufficient support from Senate Democrats and has already drawn a White House veto threat.

"There's no hurry to say we're going to pause – what's the pause for?" Manchin said, expounding on his position. "You're sending a signal to those that haven't been built yet" as well as to investors in LNG projects, he added.

Instead, Manchin said he would like to see the White House "be reasonable" and get the facts first on matters such as available reserves, future production and future US market demand, as well as how many Bcf worth of projects actually will come to fruition.

DOE officials have said they saw a need to stop and examine the domestic price implications, given the large volume of LNG capacity already authorized, before approving further exports. They also have asserted there would be little near-term or mid-term impact on allies, since the US already has 14 Bcf/d of export capacity, with another 12 Bcf/d of capacity under construction, and another 22 Bcf/d authorized.

Leaning into permitting

In his remarks before NARUC, Manchin also promised to make energy infrastructure permitting reform a priority during his remaining time in the Senate and said he is working with Barrasso, the Senate energy panel's ranking Republican, on a bipartisan bill.

Manchin told S&P Global Commodity Insights he hopes the pair will have a draft within the next month, before the next recess.

This Congress is "our last chance," he told the NARUC conference, cautioning that "the perfect was the enemy of the good" in prior stalled efforts to move bills to streamline permitting.

"I am not walking out of here until I give every ounce of effort that I have to get a permitting bill done to get you from the start to the finish in two to three years, not nine years," he said.

Manchin said priorities on the permitting bill include transmission measures and policies to set timeframes on judicial challenges to projects.

Modest permitting measures were attached to a bill enacted in June 2023 to raise the US debt ceiling. But lawmakers from both parties want more ambitious policies to speed permitting, with Democrats particularly focused on aiding construction of electric transmission lines.

"We've done a little bit on permitting but not enough," Manchin said.

Prior permitting bills from Manchin have sought to ease permitting of electric transmission lines deemed to be in the national interest. But the West Virginia lawmaker stressed that he does not want to usurp states' role in the transmission permitting and cost allocation process.

"We're going to work with you but... we've got to get this thing moving because... I want to move electrons and molecules," Manchin told state regulators at the NARUC conference. "I want everything to be moving."