New England Senators cite increased energy prices, climate and environmental justice, public health impacts for making LNG export authorization decisions

Washington (July 23, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, joined by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to the Department of Energy urging it to consider the disproportionate negative impacts of liquefied fossil gas—often called liquefied natural gas (LNG)—on New England as the department considers updates to its underlying environmental and economic analyses to improve export authorization decisions for LNG. 

In their letter, the Senators highlight that the rapid expansion of U.S. LNG exports has come at the expense of domestic energy prices, with increased LNG exports costing U.S. consumers  $111 billion between September 2021 and December 2022. New England households are particularly affected by high energy costs due to outsized exposure to the market volatility of fossil gas. This is particularly severe for low-income households, which spend more of their budgets on energy every month. The lawmakers also argue that further investment in LNG, which has detrimental climate and environmental justice impacts, is not in alignment with state climate and clean energy goals in the New England region. 

In their letter to Secretary Granholm, the New England Senators wrote, “As DOE continues to update its analyses and seek public input to modernize its LNG export project approval process, we urge you to develop and apply a robust set of public-interest-based criteria that consider all these impacts—climate goals, environmental justice, and short- and long-term consumer prices—as well as the importance of hastening our clean energy transition...If the United States wants to meet its domestic climate goals and be a strong international leader, a robust public interest test must consider the inconsistencies of building out additional LNG infrastructure while States prioritize clean energy.” 

A copy of the letter can be found HERE:

Specifically, the New England Senators recommend that the DOE consider: 

• The impacts of LNG exports on household energy burden and domestic energy prices, particularly by examining demonstrated cases of increased ratepayer costs caused by persistent volatility in the global LNG market. 
• The cost of continued fossil gas activity against the backdrop of local, state, national, and international clean energy and emissions reduction goals and progress. 
• The harms that LNG export infrastructure place on communities with existing environmental justice concerns, especially considering local, state, national, and international plans and progress to address environmental justice, including the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative. 

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