The question remains: Why should American households pay more for their energy bills so that Big Polluters can ship dirty fossil fuels overseas and rake in corporate profit? If the incoming Trump administration is truly concerned about energy costs for American families, then the federal government should deny LNG export approvals.

2. Devastating Climate Emissions 

LNG is a climate disaster. And now, DOE has found that increasing LNG exports would result in more global net greenhouse gas emissions. That’s true for every single scenario analyzed by DOE.

Previous analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) found that LNG demand can be met with existing projects in a net-zero by 2050 scenario. DOE’s studies mirror a similar finding, largely finding that the U.S. already exports enough LNG to meet global needs. Secretary Granholm also highlights that LNG mega-projects that export more than 4 billion cubic feet per day (such as the proposed Calcasieu Pass 2 project) would release more climate pollution by themselves than 141 of the world’s countries each did in 2023. 

3. Serious Harm to Frontline Communities

Frontline communities in the Gulf South have long been fighting against the LNG facilities that harm their health and communities. Community leaders have spoken out against the grave harms they face, such as high asthma rates, cancer, premature deaths, and dangerous flaring so bright that it illuminates the night sky. 

DOE’s studies show that LNG export facilities release pollutants that are harmful to human health, particularly for those living nearby. Imagine living next to a toxic facility, belching out methane, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and other volatile compounds. Every breath you take could lead to anything from a headache to heart or lung disease to an earlier death. 

Whether you have or have not witnessed these lethal costs firsthand might be by design. Facilities for so-called “natural” gas production, transportation, and export are often intentionally located in communities of color and low-income communities. It’s a serious environmental injustice, one that frontline communities have been ringing the alarm bells on for decades.

Why Do DOE’s LNG Studies Matter?

The United States is currently the world’s largest exporter of LNG, a climate-polluting fossil fuel. America’s LNG export rates started to skyrocket in 2016, and they’ve tripled over the past five years. They’re forecasted to double again by 2030. 

That’s why, in January 2024, the Biden administration directed DOE to update a series of economic and environmental studies to help them determine whether new LNG exports are actually in the American public’s interest—and therefore, if additional LNG export licenses should be approved or not.

DOE’s now finalized studies are a huge deal because they answer this critical question. They confirm what frontline communities have long said: LNG exports inflict serious economic and environmental harms on American households, frontline communities, and our rapidly changing climate.

DOE’s studies also expose the bad-faith justification from the incoming Trump administration that is trying to axe the LNG ban and rubberstamp more fossil fuel infrastructure under the guise of “lowering energy costs for consumers.” Looking ahead, DOE’s finalized studies might be used to slow President-elect Trump’s rush to export LNG by laying critical groundwork for future legal challenges. 

What Can the Biden Administration Do Now?

Biden’s DOE must use the studies’ conclusions to complete the job and protect communities from the many harms of LNG. In the Biden administration’s final week, DOE should cement its climate legacy and use its clear authority to declare that LNG exports to non-Free Trade Agreement countries are not in the public interest and deny all pending LNG export licenses.