The White House’s climate team reportedly made a crucial decision regarding a major natural gas project after meeting with a 25-year-old social media influencer, according to The New York Times.
Before deciding to delay approval of the Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2), key climate advisers and decision-makers in the White House reportedly met with Alex Haraus, a 25-year-old TikTok influencer from Colorado who has organized an online campaign demanding that the administration kill the project, according to the NYT. The White House is expected to formally announce on Friday that it is delaying its review of CP2, a development which could be the administration’s first step toward killing the project and putting numerous other LNG terminal proposals in jeopardy as well.
Climate activists “absolutely will reward or punish him on this decision,” Haraus told the NYT, referencing President Joe Biden and the upcoming presidential election. (RELATED: Biden Admin Got Handful Of Undergrads To Write Its Report On Chinese Communist Threat)
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The White House also rewarded Climate Defiance, a disruptive climate activist group that has targeted administration officials and elected Democrats with their protests, a meeting with senior advisor to the President John Podesta in December 2023. At the meeting, Climate Defiance apparently lobbied Podesta directly to kill CP2.
Biden is under pressure from the environmentalist left to kill CP2 and other LNG terminals, especially after the administration green lit ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow Project in Alaska last year over vehement opposition of eco-activists. The decision on CP2 could have major ramifications for the upcoming presidential election, as Haraus alluded to the NYT, since young voters and the environmentalist lobby are poised to be key constituencies for Biden in the 2024 race.
The natural gas industry ripped the White House’s choice to delay its decision on CP2, writing in a Wednesday letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm that an about-face on allowing proposed LNG export terminals would “hamper U.S. energy leadership and jeopardize American jobs” while “[undermining] global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The final decision on CP2 and other LNG export terminals may have serious geopolitical ramifications, too. U.S. LNG exports to Europe have increased substantially since Russia invaded Ukraine, and America’s allies on the continent will need continued access to American LNG to meet demand as they wean off Russian supply, the natural gas trade groups wrote in their letter to Granholm.
The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
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