[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S995-S996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, President Biden's war on American energy 
continues. Last month in a move apparently made, in part, to satisfy 
climate activists on TikTok and win a few votes in the upcoming 
election, the administration announced a pause on liquefied natural gas 
export approvals, threatening both domestic energy projects and the 
energy security of our allies.
  It is difficult to count all the ways in which the President's export 
approval pause is a terrible decision. But let's start with the 
national security concerns that it presents.
  At a time when Russia and Iran are flexing their power--with Russia 
now entering the third year of its unjustified war of aggression with 
Ukraine and with Iranian-backed militia threatening shipping and 
security in the Middle East--the President's action threatens to enrich 
these two countries by increasing demand for their natural gas, and 
Russia and Iran are ready to oblige. Russia is currently constructing a 
new liquefied natural gas export facility, and Iran is working on one 
as well.

  It is ironic that, as the President talks about the importance of 
opposing Putin, he is taking a step that could actually strengthen 
Putin's hand by increasing global dependence on Russian energy. Europe, 
of course, struggled to wean itself off of Russian energy when Russia 
invaded Ukraine, and American exports played a significant role in 
replacing Russian imports.
  Now, President Biden's decision is calling American reliability as an 
export partner into question and, as a recent article noted, ``is 
spooking Europe's fragile energy industry.''
  And let's be very clear. The President's export pause, ostensibly 
taken for climate-related reasons, will do nothing to reduce global 
emissions. In fact, it runs the risk of increasing global emissions by 
pushing other countries to import natural gas from less environmentally 
friendly exporters or to continue to rely on other forms of energy like 
coal. Russian natural gas production, for example, is nowhere near as 
environmentally responsible as American natural gas production, and we 
have nothing to gain and much to lose environmentally by pushing 
countries to import gas from places like Russia.
  Finally, of course, there is the risk that the decision will 
undermine the strength of the U.S. energy sector, something we should 
be seeking to build up, both for the jobs it provides Americans and 
because of its ability to strengthen U.S. influence globally.
  President Biden's decision to pause liquefied natural gas export 
approvals is, of course, just one in a string of decisions he has made 
throughout his Presidency that imperil future domestic production and 
threaten our Nation's energy security. Since the day he took office, 
President Biden has pursued an agenda that is hostile to conventional 
sources of energy--namely, oil and natural gas--and he has done 
everything he can to push our Nation into a Green New Deal regime that 
our current energy system simply cannot cope with.
  At the top of the President's agenda has been a determination to 
force Americans to adopt electric vehicles on a broad scale within the 
next decade, a deeply concerning move because our supply chain and 
electric grid are nowhere near capable of supporting that kind of a 
widespread transition to electric vehicles. In fact, our Nation's 
energy grid, which has been stretched by increased demand and the move 
away from conventional energy sources, is already in serious trouble. 
We are rapidly approaching a situation in which

[[Page S996]]

we simply won't have the ability to keep up with current electricity 
demand. Add charging for hundreds of thousands or millions of electric 
vehicles on top of that, and we could be looking at a future of 
widespread blackouts and brownouts--to say nothing of soaring 
electricity prices.
  Just look at California, which has been a leader in implementing the 
kind of Green New Deal policies the President wants to impose 
nationwide. A recent article noted:

       There is intensifying political pressure on state lawmakers 
     to do something about utility bills that have shot up by as 
     much as 127 percent over the last decade.

  And let me just repeat that, Mr. President:

       There is intensifying political pressure on state lawmakers 
     to do something about utility bills that have shot up by as 
     much as 127 percent over the last decade.

  Americans have already faced a substantial increase in energy prices 
under President Biden. Gas prices alone are up 33 percent since 
President Biden took office. But if the President succeeds in fully 
implementing his Green New Deal visions, today's gas and utility prices 
may look cheap compared to the energy prices Americans will face in the 
future.
  In his 3 years in office, President Biden has built an energy record 
that threatens to do long-term damage to America's energy security, and 
with 8 months to go until the election and more environmentalists on 
TikTok to attempt to satisfy, I am worried that the President's 
liquefied natural gas decision won't be the last terrible energy 
decision we see from the White House in 2024.