Welcome to the 40th anniversary issue of BIC Magazine.
We’ve been blessed to operate our business in such a resilient, if not cyclical, industry for four decades now. Please see some information on our history. Thank you to all of our readers, partners, vendors and employees who have played a large role in our continuing success over the years.
On a Friday afternoon last month, when all unpopular announcements are made by our government hoping to bury the news by Monday, President Joe Biden paused approving new LNG export projects, ostensibly, to review the climate change and economic impact of such projects.
This change in policy puts a dozen proposed U.S. LNG projects, enough to liquefy more than 13 bcf/d of natural gas, potentially at risk.
Five of the stalled projects have already received approval from the U.S. FERC, a requirement before DOE can review an export permit application. Two others are awaiting FERC approval. The other five are in the queue for DOE permits.
These are projects that take many, many years to develop. For each project, long-term agreements are signed with buyers from around the world to help finance the multi-billion dollars of investment. Investors in projects of this magnitude and scope require stability, and Biden is yanking a rug from under their feet.
In justifying the announcement, President Biden said, "This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time. We will heed the calls of young people and frontline communities who are using their voices to demand action from those with the power to act." President Biden’s advisers at the White House even met with a TikTok climate influencer on the subject. The administration clearly hopes its climate gesture will boost the President’s flagging political support among young people.
While the administration calls this a policy decision, it is really pandering to uninformed voters or/and extreme, left-wing voters that Biden is scrambling to win back before November. He pretends this about-face will lower prices or emissions, but it will do neither.
The Wall Street Journal called it "Biden’s worst energy decision," and we all have had plenty of bad energy decisions with which to compare. Unfortunately, the long-term effects of this policy change will likely be higher prices, more emissions and less energy security.
There is no environmental justification for killing these projects. There is plenty of science that CO2 is not the bogeyman we have been trained to fear. It helps grow plants and feed the world. CO2 levels have been much higher in eras of history that have been colder, which presses against it being a driver of temperature as we have been told. Still, even accepting that reduction of CO2 is a worthy goal, natural gas is the reason America leads the world in carbon emissions reductions. This is because natural gas has replaced coal as the most widely used source for electricity and facilitated greater use of renewables. Exporting America’s ultra-plentiful natural gas to other countries would help similar transitions for other nations.
LNG is one of the few facets of the U.S. economy that is actually booming and which enjoys an advantage over international competitors. Why stifle the part of our economy that is working?
This LNG pause is particularly dangerous in the realm of energy security. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. encouraged Europe to discontinue the purchase of Russian fuel, and the U.S. LNG market stepped up to fill the void. The White House is sending a signal to our allies that they cannot rely on U.S. promises.
Other nations won’t build new gas plants or LNG import terminals, which also cost billions of dollars, without supply locked into the long-term contacts — or they will turn to more reliable sources. Sadly, Russia may now look like a more reliable energy source than the U.S.
Biden has halted LNG expansion, which the world needs for low-cost reliable secure energy, and which we need for strong high-paying jobs. Even wealthy nations have chronic energy shortages. The fact is U.S. LNG is a key to our energy independence at home and energy dominance abroad.
We hope you enjoy this 40th-anniversary edition and remember that Earl said it best, "It’s what we do together that counts."
