President Joe Biden’s top climate aide dodged a direct question Friday about whether the administration’s decision to pause approvals for proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals will actually reduce emissions.
White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi danced around the question at a Friday briefing hours after Biden officially announced that the administration is halting approvals of new LNG export hubs while the Department of Energy (DOE) widens the scope of its reviews of the project to include climate impacts. The decision, widely celebrated by the environmentalist left, is likely to increase emissions while empowering countries including Russia and Qatar on the global LNG market, energy sector experts previously told the DCNF.
“Can you share the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that this rule would cut in the short-term? Can you detail that in any specific way for people to understand?” Monica Alba of NBC News asked Zaidi. (RELATED: Biden Team Reportedly Took Step Toward Killing Natural Gas Project After Meeting With 25-Year-Old TikTok Influencer)
WH climate adviser Ali Zaidi refuses to answer a question from NBC’s Monica Alba about how will U.S. emissions improve, if at all, by this ban on liquified natural gas exports. pic.twitter.com/02QeHB9aFT
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 26, 2024
“I think that’s part of what this review is all about. It’s to understand what are the implications of LNG. We’ve started to learn more about leakage rates at different parts of the supply chain, upstream, midstream, downstream. We’ve started to learn a lot about what happens to LNG as it’s chilled and then shipped overseas,” Zaidi answered. “We’re also seeing major shifts in the demand for this product. What is it backing out on the other end? You think about a lot of our allies and partners who use that LNG today, actually are on a trajectory to back out that demand, to replace it with things like clean energy and energy efficiency.”
“So, this will take all of those factors in, and hopefully produce an answer that helps us answer this really important question,” he concluded.
Zaidi’s indirect concession that the administration is unsure the policy will reduce emissions stands in contrast with Biden’s official announcement, in which he suggested that the pause on approvals is a decisive step to counter climate change.
While it may be true that many American allies in Europe are committed to a long-term future dominated by green energy generation from sources like wind and solar, some of those same countries have made considerable investments in natural gas power plants and LNG import hubs to complement American export terminals.
American LNG exports to Europe have increased significantly since the Ukraine war started, and numerous pundits have credited American LNG for allowing Europe to maintain its political will to oppose the Russian invasion.
Natural gas is considered to be the cleanest variety of energy-dense fossil fuels, and and U.S. LNG is about 30% cleaner than Russian LNG, for example, according to ClearPath.
“Despite the White House’s claims to the contrary, it is profoundly absurd to claim this action will do anything to curb emissions. The natural gas to meet global demand will come from somewhere — either from the US, where it is produced more responsibly than anywhere else on earth, or from other nations with far fewer environmental regulations,” David Blackmon, a 40-year veteran of the oil and gas industry who now writes and consults on the energy sector, previously told the DCNF.
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