White House on LNG Export Approval Pause: We Must Address Climate, It’s 70 Degrees in D.C.

On Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Heather Boushey discussed the pause in liquid natural gas (LNG) export approvals and stated that “we need to make sure that we, like other countries, are doing what we can do to address the climate change challenges. You started this segment by noting that it’s over 70 degrees here in D.C. in the middle of January.”

Boushey stated, [relevant remarks begin around 5:30] “Let me start by noting that the president, from day one, has had a whole-of-government approach to addressing climate change. And core to that has been making the investments we need to make to put the United States on the leading edge of investing in clean energy technologies and the capacity to produce those here in the United States and to shore up that global process there. Now, what we see in these exports is that, right now, the United States is the world’s number one exporter of LNG. And we know that, over the next decade, that’s actually predicted to double. And we’ve been working very closely and feel confident that we have enough to be able to assure our allies that we’ll be able to continue to play this really important role.”

She continued, “But, at the same time, we need to make sure that we, like other countries, are doing what we can do to address the climate change challenges. You started this segment by noting that it’s over 70 degrees here in D.C. in the middle of January. And we are all sort of struggling with the increasing physical damages of climate change and the need to make these investments, as the president is doing, in spurring those clean energy investments.”

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