As 2024 begins, President Joe Biden’s climate agenda is on a collision course with the United States’ role as one of the world’s largest exporters of natural gas. At the crossroads is the Department of Energy, which has to sign off on additional gas exports and faces critics who want the United States to stop supplying fossil fuels to the world, regardless of how hungry for energy it is,writes Brian Dabbs. “Exports are the Achilles’ heel of the Biden administration’s climate efforts,” said Tyson Slocum, director of energy at Public Citizen. The decision by Congress and Biden to spend nearly $400 billion on zero-carbon energy projects through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, Slocum added, “is being eviscerated by unregulated fossil fuel exports.” Energy companies are proposing export projects that would boost capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast to ship liquefied natural gas to Europe and Asia. The U.S. was the largest global LNG exporter during the first half of 2023. Top administration officials have played the future of gas exports close to their vests. Europe’s need to secure gas from suppliers who aren’t Russian is still a force behind proposals to keep U.S. energy export terminals humming. But administration officials have also argued that natural gas exports are helping other countries replace dirtier coal. Solyndra and its discontents
Gas exports aren’t the only reason the Energy Department action is facing mounting scrutiny. It’s also under the microscope of Republicans who oppose sending federal largesse to clean energy companies, including through the DOE loan program. GOP senators led by Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming are targeting a solar company called Sunnova Energy, which won a $3 billion federal loan guarantee. So far, the Republican playbook looks a lot like the one they used during President Barack Obama’s time in office, when the failed solar company Solyndra dominated headlines after it got federal cash. What goes on at the Energy Department in 2024 is also pivotal to the development of hydrogen as a clean fuel for heavy industries. The administration has staked a lot on hydrogen’s role in the larger effort to eliminate carbon pollution from the economy — especially in its grittier corners such as steel production. In October,DOE named seven companies that would receive $7 billion through a hydrogen hub program designed to get production off the ground. That cash is still being disbursed. The hydrogen push has its own snags.Recent tax credit guidance could affect investments if it’s finalized, and companies are pushing back against a requirement to tap new clean energy sources in their regions in order to reap tax benefits.
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