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Climate
'Radical and Reckless': House Passes LNG Bill to Jack Up Climate Pollution and Energy Prices
"The explosion of LNG exports in recent years has already generated massive profits for the fossil fuel industry, while consumers and local communities pay the price," said one climate campaigner.
Nov 21, 2025
As government leaders from around the world met in Brazil to discuss solutions to the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency, the GOP-controlled US House of Representatives on Thursday advanced a bill that would lift restrictions on liquefied natural gas.
Eleven Democrats joined all Republicans present in voting for GOP Texas Congressman August Pfluger's Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act, which would also grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sole authority over applications for import and export facilities. It's now up to the Senate whether the bill will reach President Donald Trump.
As E&E News reported: "Pfluger and Republican leadership previously championed the bill in response to President Joe Biden's LNG pause, in which the Department of Energy paused new terminal approvals to evaluate whether they were in the public interest. It passed the House last year, but never received Senate consideration."
While Pfluger, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the upper chamber sponsor, celebrated Thursday's vote, climate campaigners blasted the bill—just one part of a sweeping GOP effort to boost the planet-heating fossil fuel industry during Trump's second term.
"The explosion of LNG exports in recent years has already generated massive profits for the fossil fuel industry, while consumers and local communities pay the price," Sierra Club director of beyond fossil fuels policy Mahyar Sorour said in a statement after the vote. "The last thing we need is even less oversight over these costly, polluting export projects."
"House Republicans should be focused on making investments in a clean economy and reducing energy costs for our families, not further padding the pockets of Big Oil and Gas executives," Sorour added. "The Senate should reject this dirty bill."
Energy prices are going up everywhere and Republicans just made it worse ⬇️
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— Energy and Commerce Democrats (@energycommerce.bsky.social) November 20, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, highlighted that "President Trump explicitly promised during the campaign that he would lower Americans' utility bills by half within 12 months. Not only has Trump obviously failed on that promise, but this legislation would exacerbate the energy affordability crisis."
Slocum pointed to his group's estimates that "natural gas prices for American households have increased by $10.3 billion from January through August 2025 compared to the same time period a year earlier—a 20% increase."
"Eight LNG export terminals now consume more natural gas than all American households combined," he continued. "The US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration's November 2025 Short Term Energy Outlook concludes that Americans face sharply higher natural gas prices 'primarily due to increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.'"
"This radical and reckless deregulatory proposal eliminates the requirement that gas exports comply with the public interest, allowing fossil fuel companies to enjoy unregulated exports at the expense of affordable energy here at home," Slocum stressed. "The move by Congress to allow bypassing these safeguards could have catastrophic impacts on the consumers in the US, sending energy prices soaring, while allowing climate change to get far worse."
"Despite Trump promising he would cut Americans' energy bills, Congress is set to put consumers at risk of paying more, raising major questions about Trump's close allegiance with dirty energy executives who want to ship more fuel overseas," he added. "Creating more capacity to export US fossil fuels abroad will only accelerate the climate crisis and hurt US consumers."
Americans are already being crushed by the skyrocketing cost of living, and now the House GOP is passing legislation that will drive up monthly power bills even further by sending UNLIMITED amounts of our natural gas abroad.
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— Rep. Frank Pallone (@pallone.house.gov) November 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The vote happened on the same day that Doug Burgum, the billionaire fossil fuel industry ally whom Trump appointed to lead the US Department of the Interior, ordered the termination of the Biden administration's 2024-29 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program and the development of a "new, more expansive" plan "as soon as possible."
Responding to the order in a statement, Sierra Club executive director Loren Blackford said that "Donald Trump and Doug Burgum are once again trying to sell out our coastal communities and our public waters in favor of corporate polluters' bottom line."
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Fury as 'Shamefully Weak' COP30 Draft Drops All Mention of Fossil Fuels
"We can’t have a deal that fails to deliver what science and the law require on finance, fossil fuels, or forests and call that progress."
Nov 21, 2025
Climate advocates voiced alarm and outrage Friday after every mention of fossil fuels was dropped from the latest draft text to emerge from the COP30 summit, high-stakes talks that have been swarmed by a record number of oil and gas lobbyists seeking to derail any progress toward a clean energy transition.
Dozens of nations—including Spain, Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands, Chile, and Germany—are demanding that any final agreement include "a roadmap for implementing a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels" to fulfill world leaders' previous commitment at COP28.
But a draft document released by COP30 host Brazil on Friday, formally the last day of talks, omits any such roadmap and does not even contain the term "fossil fuels."
Monique Barbut, France's environment minister, said Friday that "at this point, even if we don't have the roadmap, but at least a mention of the fossil fuels, I think we would accept it."
"But as it stands now, we have nothing left," Barbut added.
While draft texts are not necessarily a definitive measure of the state of negotiations, the omission was seen as further evidence that United Nations climate talks have been captured by petrostates such as Saudi Arabia and fossil fuel industry influence-peddlers. At COP30, fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber the delegations of every country except Brazil.
The Donald Trump-led United States, the world's largest oil producer, did not send an official delegation to the summit.
"This is outrageous," Bronwen Tucker, public finance lead at Oil Change International, said in response to the new draft text. "The presidency has presented a shamefully weak text that fails to mention fossil fuels, fails to deliver accountability towards rich countries’ finance obligations, and only makes vague promises on adaptation."
"A large group of countries have been vocal in their support for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, but rich parties are still refusing to deliver the debt-free public finance on fair terms that is key to make it happen," Tucker added. "Until they stop blocking efforts to address the systemic barriers developing countries face to phasing out fossil fuels, any roadmap will be a dead-end."
"We’re walking a fine line here between survival and climate catastrophe."
The updated text was released as negotiators raced to strike a consensus deal in the final hours of the summit, which appears likely to head into overtime. Talks were delayed for hours on Thursday after a fire broke out at the summit, an incident that activists viewed as a "potent metaphor" for world leaders' failure to combat the climate crisis as it wreaks havoc across the globe.
"We’re walking a fine line here between survival and climate catastrophe, and in these final hours I am hoping we can take something back to our communities that indicates that the world considers our homes worth fighting for,” said Fenton Lutunatabua, Pacific team lead at the climate group 350.
Nikki Reisch, director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law, said Friday that the toothless draft text lays bare the need to overhaul the COP process and mitigate the influence of the fossil fuel industry—the primary driver of the climate emergency.
"The world is being sold a bill of lies here at this 'COP of truth,'" said Reisch. "We can’t have a deal that fails to deliver what science and the law require on finance, fossil fuels, or forests and call that progress. The weakness of the text underscores why the climate talks are sorely in need of reform to allow a majority vote when a handful of countries block consensus."
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Trump Ripped Over 'Reckless' Plan to Drill for Oil Off California, Florida
"Donald Trump and Doug Burgum are once again trying to sell out our coastal communities and our public waters in favor of corporate polluters' bottom line."
Nov 20, 2025
While other governments are gathered in Brazil for the United Nations climate summit, the Trump administration on Thursday announced plans for new oil drilling off the coasts of California and Florida, drawing sharp denunciations from defenders of the planet and all life on Earth.
After running on a promise to "drill, baby, drill" and raking in campaign cash from Big Oil, President Donald Trump launched his pro-polluter agenda on the first day he returned to office. Doug Burgum, the billionaire fossil fuel industry ally appointed to lead the US Department of the Interior, advanced that agenda on Thursday with his "Unleashing American Offshore Energy" order.
Burgum ordered the department to terminate the Biden administration's 2024-29 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program—which had the fewest sales in history—and replace it with a "new, more expansive" plan "as soon as possible."
While the department said in a statement that "under the new proposal for the 2026-31 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, Interior is taking a major step to boost United States energy independence and sustain domestic oil and gas production," critics quickly pointed out the pitfalls of the Trump administration's planet-heating ambitions.
#BREAKING: The Trump admin just released its plan to expand offshore drilling on the West, Gulf & Alaskan coasts of the U.S.This move threatens beloved beaches, precious marine life & countless coastal communities across the country – despite bipartisan public opposition. https://oceana.ly/4pn13t1
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— Oceana (@oceana.bsky.social) November 20, 2025 at 4:14 PM
"Donald Trump and Doug Burgum are once again trying to sell out our coastal communities and our public waters in favor of corporate polluters' bottom line," declared Sierra Club executive director Loren Blackford in a statement. "Americans across the political spectrum have made it clear they oppose offshore drilling. We know the risks are far too great, threatening ecosystems and coastal economies with the risk of spills that would take decades to clean up."
"Despite overwhelming bipartisan opposition, Trump and Burgum are moving forward with their reckless plan to serve their ultimate goal of handing over our public lands and waters to Big Oil CEOs," Blackford continued. "These lease sales are privatization in everything but name—a 'keep out' sign is the same whether an area was sold or leased. The Sierra Club will continue to stand with coastal communities and work to stop this reckless plan dead in the water."
“Trump's plan would risk the health and well-being of millions of people who live along our coasts. It would also devastate countless ocean ecosystems. This admin continues to put the oil industry above people, our shared environment, and the law,” said Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy.
— Earthjustice (@earthjustice.org) November 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, also blasted the administration's plan for as many as 34 potential offshore lease sales.
"Trump's war on marine life continues with this absolutely unhinged attack on our coasts," she said. "Auctioning off nearly the entire US coast to Big Oil will inflict oil spill after devastating oil spill, harm whales and sea turtles, and wreck fisheries and coastal economies. I'm confident that Americans across the political spectrum will come together to fight Trump's plan to smear toxic crude across our beaches and oceans."
Unlike the Trump administration, the center's energy justice director, Jean Su, is at COP30 in Belém. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat expected to run for president in 2028, also attended the UN conference last week.
"Trump can't stand it that Gov. Newsom showed him up here in Brazil, and I think that explains the timing of this reckless plan to drill our oceans," Su said. "To Trump, this plan is political theater to spite Newsom and the climate talks. But this isn't an episode of The Apprentice. This plan would do immense damage to people and wildlife, damage those of us at COP30 are fighting like hell to defend against."
While Florida is led by a Trump sycophant, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Newsom joined conservation and climate campaigners in calling out the administration's drilling plans. The Democrat said that "Donald Trump's idiotic proposal to sell off California's coasts to his Big Oil donors is dead in the water. We will not stand by as our coastal economy and communities are put in danger."
Trump is rolling out the red carpet for offshore oil and gas—which will inevitably spill into the ocean and increase costs at home. Trump is doing this while sabotaging offshore wind, the energy source that does the exact opposite. He’s not “unleashing American energy”—he’s underwriting Big Oil.
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— Senator Ed Markey (@markey.senate.gov) November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Two other California Democrats, US House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman and Sen. Alex Padilla, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, similarly said in a joint statement that "with this draft plan, Donald Trump and his administration are trying to destroy one of the most valuable, most protected coastlines in the world and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry."
"They didn't listen to Californians. They didn't listen to communities up and down the West Coast. Instead, Trump wants to take a wrecking ball to our communities while trampling over anyone who stands between him and what billionaires demand," the lawmakers continued. "These lease areas are not only irreplaceable, but allowing drilling in these areas would undermine military readiness and pose risks to national security. But Trump doesn't care."
"Californians remember every spill, every dead dolphin and sea otter, every fishing season wrecked by contamination. We built stronger, cleaner, more resilient coastal communities—and a burgeoning $1.7 trillion coastal economy—in spite of all that. And we're not going to stand by and watch it get destroyed by Trump's oil and gas pet projects," they added. "This plan targets California and the whole West Coast because they think we will roll over. They are wrong. We're going to fight this with everything we have."
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'Potent Metaphor': Fire Forces Evacuation of UN Climate Conference
"Between the booths flooding and a fire breaking out in the Blue Zone, feels like maybe someone is trying to tell us something at COP30," said one journalist.
Nov 20, 2025
Delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Belém, Brazil were forced to evacuate after a fire broke out at the Hangar Convention and Exhibition Center on Thursday.
Brazilian government officials told BBC that the fire, which broke out early in the afternoon, is now under control.
BBC climate editor Justin Rowlatt, who was covering the conference, described seeing "huge columns of smoke rising up into the air through the hole that's been burnt in the top of the conference center," and said that there was "a huge panic, people have been running out of here."
#COP30 is on fire pic.twitter.com/VWAIhjVrqm
— Mike Szabo / @szabotage.bsky.social (@MikeSzaboCP) November 20, 2025
Imagens obtidas pelo @Metropoles mostram o momento exato do início do fogo na COP30.
Foi durante um evento da delegação africana. pic.twitter.com/5A6J3NAr3I
— Sam Pancher (@SamPancher) November 20, 2025
Officials do not yet know what caused the fire, but the Guardian reports that Brazilian Minister of Tourism Celso Sabino cast doubt on any suspicions that the blaze could have been set deliberately.
"You’d have to be a really awful person to set fire to a COP," he said.
Some climate activists argued that the fire at COP30 could be seen as an ill omen for the conference's outcome, especially given criticisms over the conference being packed to the brim with fossil fuel lobbyists.
US-based activist Jes Vesconte told the Guardian that the COP30 blaze was "a potent metaphor" for what's been happening at the conference.
"As capitalist fossil fuel companies, imperialist countries, and militarist powers block the talks here (or in abstentia in the case of the US)," Vesconte said, "they are putting profits over planet and people, profiteering off ecocide, genocide, and countless deaths, at the expense of all life on Earth, and pouring fuel on the fire of the burning planet."
Emily Pontecorvo, staff writer at Heatmap News, also picked up on the symbolism of the fire.
"A literal fire has erupted in the middle of the United Nations conference devoted to stopping the planet from burning," she wrote in a post on Bluesky.
Climate reporter Amy Westervelt noted that the fire wasn't the only disaster to befall COP30 this week.
"Between the booths flooding and a fire breaking out in the Blue Zone, feels like maybe someone is trying to tell us something at COP30," she observed.
A report released last week by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition said it tallied the “largest ever attendance share” for fossil fuel lobbyists, dimming hopes of reaching a breakthrough agreement to curb emissions. In total, KBPO counted 1,602 fossil fuel lobbyists at the climate summit, representing roughly 1 out every 25 participants at this year's conference.
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