Posted on 05/25/2024 5:48:16 AM PDT by MtnClimber
During the hearing, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee grilled Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about the administration’s “war on energy.”.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told a House Oversight Committee Thursday that the pause on liquified natural gas (LNG) export permits would be rescinded by the first quarter of 2025. The statement was made in response to questions from Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., during a hearing.
In January, the Biden administration had announced a pause on export permits of LNG to countries without a free trade agreement with the U.S., which includes European nations. The pause was to do a review of the permits to determine if they are in the public interest. The permit applications are reviewed by the Department of Energy, and the pause impacted only new applications.
Higgins wanted to know if the Department of Energy had yet determined if new export permits were in the public interest.
“We’re in the middle of a study and updating our assessment of what is in the public interest,” Granholm answered, which would be complete in the first quarter of 2025.
“Would that be a no?” Higgins replied.
Granholm disputed the characterization of the pause as a ban, as Higgins and other committee members called it. The pause, she said, has no impact on exports that are happening now, she said. “There is no cut off. We have to do an assessment of what's in the public interest given the huge amounts that we have authorized so far,” Granholm explained.
Critics, however, have argued that the policy decision, even if it lasts only a year, still has environmental and economic impacts, including scaring off investors with regulatory uncertainty.
War on Energy
During the hearing, Republicans on the committee grilled Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about the administration’s “war on energy.”
“We will not stand by solidly as the Biden administration subverts America's energy independence and demonizes this critical industry,” Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said.
Democrats on the committee, as well as Granholm, denied that the Biden administration was doing anything to impede American energy production, citing the administration’s clean energy policies.
SHE LIES ALL THE TIME
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