Unlocking Our Domestic Lng Potential Act of 2024

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 7176. This bill is nothing more than a handout to Big Oil and Gas that will enrich our adversaries, including China, and force American families to pay the price with higher energy bills.

It removes a requirement that the Department of Energy first determine liquefied natural gas exports should be in the public interest before approving export applications.

This defies logic. The Republican bill assumes that all LNG exports are automatically in the public interest. This is utterly absurd considering there is widespread consensus among researchers and economists that increasing LNG exports directly leads to higher natural gas prices here at home.

Americans know this reality all too well because they have felt it firsthand. Our LNG exports quadrupled over the last 5 years. During that same time, in 2022, natural gas prices more than tripled.

Make no mistake: If this bill ever becomes law, Americans will pay more for the gas that heats their homes and keeps their lights on.

It is an affront to middle-class families who can't afford to deal with more fossil fuel price volatility. They are tired of our energy prices being manipulated by our adversaries simply because Republicans are in a mad rush to send it all abroad.

Now Republicans also claim to be tough on China. I hear this every day in the Energy and Commerce Committee. We have to be tough on China.

This bill is a gift to China. In 2021, China was the second-largest recipient of American LNG, and Chinese LNG purchasers have continued to snap up any long-term deal they can from American exporters.

By removing the requirement that our exports be in America's best interests, this bill would allow China and other adversaries to purchase even more of our energy to use against us.

Thankfully, the Biden administration is taking a different approach, one that prioritizes the needs of the American people rather than Big Oil and Gas.

Last month, the administration announced a temporary pause on new LNG export authorizations while the Department of Energy confirms that they are in Americans' interests.

This is just common sense. Before we send our energy resources abroad, it is only right that we first confirm that doing so will benefit Americans.

Anyone who says this pause is a ban on LNG exports is also peddling in blatant disinformation. The temporary pause does not affect current exports and does not affect exports from facilities that are under construction. It doesn't even affect exports from facilities that haven't begun construction but are fully permitted.

If the Department of Energy never approved another permit, our LNG exports are still on track to triple from now until the end of the decade, more than enough to ensure Europe gets all the gas that it needs.

I note how ridiculous it is to have the same Republicans who refuse to support aid for Ukraine lecture us on being good allies.

House Democrats are demanding that the House vote on legislation that has now passed the Senate that would provide funding to ensure Ukraine can continue to protect its democracy from Russia's unprovoked war of aggression.

In stark contrast, House Speaker Johnson is shamefully blocking this urgent national security funding, siding with pro-Putin extreme Republicans.

If House Republicans want to be good allies, they should join us in demanding a vote on that critical national security funding.

Mr. Speaker, ensuring that LNG exports are in the American people's best interest is something we should all want. Instead, we are here considering a bill that does the opposite for a third time because Republicans are fresh out of ideas and resorting to bringing up old, tired bills that stand no chance of ever becoming law.

Time and again they have proven completely dysfunctional and incapable of governing, and, in fact, they are making us vote on this same bill for a third time. Certainly, that is a testament to their inability to get things done. With nothing else to bring to the floor, they want to distract from reality that they have achieved nothing to improve the lives of the American people.

This is just another Republican bill that puts polluters over people, and I, therefore, encourage my colleagues to oppose it.

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this handout for Big Oil and Gas producers.

This bill removes a requirement that DOE first determine LNG exports are to be in the public interest before approving export applications to non-free trade agreement countries. It is basically saying all LNG exports are in the public interest. This is simply not true.

Study after study has found that increased LNG exports directly lead to higher natural gas prices here at home.

According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, LNG exports cost American consumers more than $100 billion over a 16-month period. After doubling our LNG exports in the last 5 years, natural gas prices in 2022 more than tripled.

If enacted, this bill will only compound those burdens on middle- class families trying to make ends meet while enriching big corporations. This doesn't sound like legislating in the public interest.

For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee.

If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill. My amendment would prevent the bill from taking effect until the Secretary of Energy can certify that the bill will not increase domestic natural gas prices.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Castor), the ranking member of our Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. DeGette), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Barragan), who is a member of our committee.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the amount of time that remains.

Mr. Speaker, I have to correct the record, not only about my colleague, Mr. Scalise, who I very much respect, but also some of the other comments that have been made.

There was a reference to President Joe Biden. The bottom line is that President Biden, like myself, believes in an all-of-the-above energy policy. In fact, there has been record production of oil during President Biden's administration. More oil has been produced domestically here in the United States during his administration than any other President that we have had.

The point is that we would like to move toward clean energy. Yes, we would like to have cleaner oil production, as well, but it doesn't mean that we are not in favor of more production. In fact, there is more production.

Now, many of my Republican colleagues have referred to President Biden's recent action to pause LNG exports as a ban, and that is simply not true. The Natural Gas Act requires the President to determine whether or not new LNG exports are in the public interest. If the President and his administration feel like they do not have sufficient information to make that determination, then it is their responsibility and duty under the law to take time and gather that information.

Even Politico highlighted the Republican misinformation machine in an article this week. They said:

Other Republicans have settled on a more blunt strategy, falsely portraying the pause on new permits as a ban on exports. Thanks to already issued permits, exports are expected to increase rapidly in the coming years.

Once again, the Republicans are peddling in misinformation to prop up their polluters-over-people agenda.

The Biden administration pause makes sense. It is common sense. The last time the economic impacts of LNG exports were examined was in 2018, when LNG export volumes were one-quarter of what they currently are.

The last time the greenhouse gas impacts of LNG exports were examined was in 2019. We know so much more now about emissions from gas leakage in the transportation, liquefaction, and regasification process.

It would be foolish to review 2024 LNG exports now without looking at 2024 analysis and data, which we do not have. Therefore, frankly, it would have been massively irresponsible for President Biden to approve further exports without reexamining how the Department of Energy was making its determination. I thank the President for taking the action he did, and I look forward to the results of this review.

I want to correct one more thing. Many of my colleagues have referred to radical environmentalists. I don't think it is radical to ask what is going on in people's ability to breathe.

When the Clean Air Act was passed, it basically was passed because we wanted to make sure that people would be able to breathe clean air. It is not radical for me to try to correct air quality and, if there is pollution out there, to try to correct it so people can breathe when the list of all the health impacts of not being able to breathe clean air is so long.

Again, all we are asking--all that this administration has asked and all the Democrats have asked--is that we continue to clean up our air so that we can breathe. That is it. That is all we are asking for here today.

Mr. Speaker, again, this bill is a massive valentine to the Communist Party of China. It would send untold amounts of American LNG to China to help continue to fuel its industrial rise, without ever allowing for a review as to whether these exports are actually in the public interest.

Now, what is going on here? Why on Earth are Republicans eager to sell LNG to China when they know that LNG exports increase domestic natural gas prices for Americans? I will tell you why: Because the cost to American families means nothing as long as oil and gas companies profit.

Numerous studies show that LNG exports result in increased costs to Americans. If we pass this bill, already volatile natural gas prices will be shaped by forces completely out of our control.

It doesn't make any sense to me. Republicans are acting against American interests here. I wish my colleagues across the aisle would focus on what is important and not just on stalling tactics that pad the pockets of polluters.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans claim that this bill helps our European allies. What a joke that is. The reality is that they don't care about our European allies who are currently going to the mat for democracy and facing down Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

On Tuesday evening in the Rules Committee, we heard over and over again from our Republican colleagues that LNG is crucial for our allies in Europe. Unfortunately, these same Republicans have made it clear they have no interest in actually providing aid to Ukraine. They use the war on Ukraine to argue for LNG exports and push the arguments of their oil and gas friends. But when it comes down to actually helping allies, they are at best silent, and at worst vocally against it.

Last year, 21 radical House Republicans signed on to a letter opposing all supplemental funding requests for Ukraine in its struggle against Russian oppression.

Weeks later, a majority of House Republicans voted against a bill offering a paltry amount of aid to Ukraine. Now, after the Senate has done its part, they totally refuse to bring a bill to the floor that would easily command a majority in the House.

The behavior is unbelievable. I want to be clear: It will lead to the unnecessary deaths of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians.

Mr. Speaker, I would simply ask my Republican colleagues: Which is it? Do they actually care about assisting Europe? Do they think current LNG volumes in Europe are insufficient? Do they think tripling LNG volumes to Europe without issuing another permit is insufficient, or do they really just want to protect the ability of Big Oil and Gas to price gouge Americans here at home?

If they were serious about supporting our European allies, they would be supporting a bill on the floor that would spend money to do just that, not wasting time on this bill for the third time this Congress.

If Republicans were serious about supporting our European allies, they would push back on Donald Trump's dangerous invitation to Russia to ``do whatever the hell they want'' if Europe doesn't spend more on its own defense.

Is this what helping our democratic allies looks like? Are Republicans unable to see what is wrong here? How their inaction threatens European peace and security, and our own national security?

House Republicans are unwilling to spend a single dollar to defend democracy in Europe but are happy to sit here and argue again and again about a bill that will drive up costs for everyday Americans while lining the pockets of their Big Oil and Gas friends. It is just unbelievable to me, Mr. Speaker, even for Washington.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source