As Congress Considers Canceling Biden’s Export Permitting Halt, New Science Confirms LNG’s Climate-Killing Impact

With Republican leaders in Congress considering action to cancel out President Biden’s recent decision to temporarily halt new approvals for liquified natural gas (LNG) export facilities, the latest science confirms LNG’s devastating impact on climate stability. New research from noted climate scientist Robert Howarth, Ph.D., demonstrates that LNG is at least a 24 percent greater climate emissions source than coal.

“Liquified gas exports are a threat to public health, our coastlines, and our climate. Republican extremists are doing the bidding of their fossil fuel industry backers by taking aim at a commonsense policy to review the environmental and climate costs of the unprecedented expansion of a polluting industry. Senate leaders should make sure that this Republican anti-science ploy is a failure.” – Jim Walsh, Policy Director, Food & Water Watch

“LNG is made from fracked shale gas. Developing shale gas is an energy intensive process, and the greenhouse gas emissions from shale gas are comparable to those from burning coal. To make and transport LNG from the shale gas requires substantially more energy to liquefy the gas and ship it in tankers, increasing emissions even further. The overall greenhouse gas emissions for LNG are quite large, substantially larger than for coal.” – Robert Howarth, Ph.D., The David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology & Environmental Biology, Cornell University

In December, 170 climate scientists, including Howarth and Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., sent a letter to President Biden to permanently cease approving new LNG export facilities throughout the country.

“Not only do LNG facilities pour climate-wrecking methane into our atmosphere when operational, their construction wipes out coastal habitat that serves as our best protection against climate-fueled hurricanes and rising storm surges. In this way, LNG facilities add climate insult to climate injury. Happily, the plunging costs of renewable energy obviate the need for further investments in the capital-intensive, energy-intensive process of turning methane gas into a bubbling, super-cold, leaky, explosive liquid for export.” – Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Science and Environmental Health Network