Should Biden swap liquified natural gas for Ukraine aid?
Yes. The impact of reinstating the LNG export permitting process is infinitesimal compared to the totality of Biden's climate record.
On Sunday during a Fox News interview, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said he would propose a Ukraine aid bill with conditions.
For example, Johnson said, "We want to have natural gas exports that will help unfund Vladimir Putin's war effort." That was a reference to President Joe Biden's January order temporarily pausing approval of new liquified natural gas export facility permits, which Republicans want reversed.
Is Ukraine aid worth coughing up the permits?
Yes, and I'll explain why. But first, here's what's leading the Washington Monthly website:
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Why should, or would, Biden agree to allow new permitting of liquified natural gas exports, three months after instituting a pause, when he's trying to boost youth turnout by touting his climate record?
Because the impact of the permit issue is infinitesimal compared to the totality of Biden's climate record.
The permit pause isn't the linchpin of Biden's climate record. The linchpin is the $369 billion Biden got through Congress to combat climate change and transition to a clean energy economy.
Also critical to Biden's strategy is ensuring the transition is a "just transition" that avoids economic disruption and benefits the middle-class.
For example, last week at the Washington Monthly I wrote about how Biden is implementing a set of policies designed to help American automakers and auto workers compete in the global electric vehicle market.
And as I noted last year, Biden has rejected calls to ban fracking, instead focusing on plugging methane leaks, so we can more cleanly extract natural gas while continuing to replace coal and avoid disruptive energy price spikes.
As part of that strategy, I wrote at the time, "the Biden administration dramatically increased liquid natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe," helping the region reduce dependency on Russia and support Ukraine.
In fact, when the White House announced the temporary permit pause, it stressed that "The U.S. is already the number one exporter of LNG worldwide–with U.S. LNG exports expected to double by the end of this decade ... Today’s announcement will not impact our ability to continue supplying LNG to our allies in the near-term."
The temporary pause was only supposed to be in effect "until the Department of Energy can update the underlying analyses for authorizations" and better account for potential "energy cost increases" and "greenhouse gas emissions."
But the order is also "subject to exception for unanticipated and immediate national security emergencies." The lapse in Ukraine aid can be seen as a national security emergency, and the Energy Department can still work on updating its authorizing criteria while the permitting process is restored.
Politico's Inside Congress newsletter suggested yesterday that Johnson's LNG trial balloon wasn't necessarily impressing Ukraine aid critics in the GOP, so it's not likely to be enough to seal a deal.
But if Johnson insists LNG export permits must be part of a deal, Biden will have every reason to accept, knowing that it is an extremely small concession that does not dilute his incredibly impressive environmental record.
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Best,
Bill Scher, Washington Monthly politics editor