Biden Adviser: LNG Pause Won’t Have Much Impact, But Is Needed to Study Impacts on Gulf Communities, Economy

On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Last Call,” Biden Senior Adviser for Energy and Investment Amos Hochstein said that the pause on liquid natural gas (LNG) export approvals won’t “have that much of an impact” but is needed to assess “the economic impacts” and “the impacts on the communities” along the Gulf of Mexico where the LNG facilities are being built.

Hochstein stated, “Well, I think as we — as the President said, as the secretary of energy has announced, this pause is coming after we have grown LNG exports dramatically…to becoming the largest exporter in the world. Just what’s under construction will lead us to nearly double that capacity, from a base of the largest, double that capacity by 2027 and 2028.”

Host Brian Sullivan then cut in to ask, “So, it’s not going to kill it?”

Hochstein responded, “No, on the contrary, we’re going to be the most dominant LNG exporter this planet has ever seen. And that will continue. The question is, when you build out that much additional capacity, you’ve got to take a second to say, wait a minute, before I give a lot more export licenses, only to countries that don’t have free-trade agreements, so, it’s not a total pause. And then we say, all right, let’s look, what are the economic impacts? How much demand is going to be past 2035, 2040 for gas? And what are the impacts on the communities that live along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which is really where all of these facilities are being built? And so, let’s take a look. Let’s do a study for a few months, see where it is, and then decide what the right course of action is. Do you want to approve everything? Do you want to select what is right for the economy, for the U.S. economy and the world? And I think we’ll be in fine shape after that. I don’t think it’s going to have that much of an impact.”

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