Please note: We are asking you to submit your comments directly to DOE at this LINK, signing this petition does not send your comment to DOE . We are keeping a record of comments people are submitting so please fill out the form on the sidebar of this page AFTER making your official submission to regulations.gov, especially since we are not confident that the Trump Administration will keep the docket active for the full comment period. This is why we are trying to flood the record before January 20.

We need your help to stop liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports! Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) put a pause on its authorizations for LNG exports. They have now released the report updating how they decide whether a proposed LNG export project is in the public interest based on public health impacts, environmental/climate impacts, and economic impacts. The extensive report explains that approving more LNG exports will undermine critical climate goals, increasing greenhouse gas emissions; bring economic hardship and instability for consumers; and harm public health, especially in communities already overburdened by pollution.

Why is this important for all of us?

• LNG exports will layer more pollution on communities, emphasized by Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a statement accompanying the report’s release, in which she pointed out that it’s even worse for environmental justice communities that would be being saddled with more LNG pollution that is harming public health and shortening lives. We know that LNG exports are degrading the environment at every step of the gas production cycle. This is true at LNG facilities and also where fossil gas is being fracked and transported such as in Pennsylvania, the second largest gas producer in the nation where the wounds of the fracking industry run deep.
• LNG exports will make the climate crisis worse by pumping out greenhouse gases at the moment we must urgently reduce these emissions to avoid climate catastrophe. We need to develop truly clean renewables but these will be displaced by LNG increases.
• The report finds that LNG exports drive up the price of gas for domestic users, including manufacturing and electric utility costs, and can lead to economic instability. It also concludes that further permitting would result in excess supply. The worldwide glut of LNG will engender economic instability as demand wanes and investments sour.

More LNG exports are clearly not in the public interest and all pending and new LNG export applications must be rejected. By submitting many many comments into the government record to demand a fair and accurate analysis of the public interest determination of each LNG export project and to support unwavering action by DOE based on the facts, we will have the important evidence we need to fight for justice and truth in DOE decision making.

By our mounting a strong record defending the interests of the public over special corporate self-interests, DOE will be armed with valuable tools to do the right thing NOW and we will have powerful information we can use to fight the LNG exports that the incoming administration will be pushing.

The comment period is 60 days, ending Feb. 18, but since the new administration can shut down the portal, we need to get as many comments as possible in before January 20.

Please devote a few minutes to submit a comment to stop liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. To file a comment, go to https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/DOE_FRDOC_0001-5101 and click on “Comment Now”. Fill in your information and write your comment in the space provided. If you wish to attach a document, follow their instructions. Your comment will be published on the government’s Docket index page, usually within a few days. If you want your comment to be submitted anonymously, send it to tracy@delawareriverkeeper.org and we will submit it for you. If you want to mail in your comment, see the instructions in the full Federal Register Notice.

Comments have more impact if they are personalized so we suggest you open your submission by identifying yourself, perhaps mention where you live, your profession and/or affiliation(s) and state why the LNG export issue is important to you as an individual or family.

We are listing below some suggested comments that you can copy and paste into the comment portal after your opening/introduction. Please pick and choose as you like.

SUGGESTED COMMENTS:

• LNG pollutes and harms public health – LNG is made from fracked gas, more than 95% methane. It carries devastating environmental impacts throughout its life cycle from gas extraction and its related fallout such as toxic and radioactive wastewater, to transport such as destructive pipelines and hazardous rail, to liquefaction processing that emits toxic pollutants into the air and water, to the impacts of terminals such as the destruction of habitats, ecosystems, fishing economies, and vulnerable wildlife during construction and operation of these ports for enormous tankers, to shipping impacts, to LNG’s regasification at its destination, and finally to burning as an end use, usually in a power plant. Every step in LNG’s cradle to grave journey belts out toxic pollutants, disproportionately in communities that have already been overburdened due to environmental racism, causing respiratory, heart, and neurological damage and shortening lives. For instance, communities living near LNG facilities are exposed to human health and safety impacts due to pollution and the dangerous volatility of LNG and those living along the major railways that would be used to transport LNG are predominantly low-income communities and communities of color. In truth, existing LNG authorizations would not have moved ahead if these factors had been fairly considered at the start. We can’t allow these transgressions to continue.
• LNG is a climate disaster – LNG has a greater climate impact than coal, diesel oil, or natural gas. LNG exports would lead to crippling increases in greenhouse gas emissions when accurately assessed from cradle to grave, throughout the life cycle of LNG, as illustrated in the study by Dr. Robert Howarth of Cornell University. The full life cycle of LNG shows that when using LNG powered tanker ships, the footprint of LNG is “significantly greater than using natural gas produced domestically because of the energy needed to power the super-cooling of natural gas to make LNG and because of the energy needed to transport LNG in tankers”. This results in more greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane, which is 86 times more potent than carbon in warming the atmosphere on a 20-year time scale. We need to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) by at least 50% by 2030 to keep the earth from warming above 1.5 C. Global climate goals, and those of President Biden, would become unattainable if pending LNG exports proceed. The development of clean zero-GHG renewable energy sources are being sidelined by the rampant expansion of LNG exports and the inducing of fracking it requires.
• No need for more LNG - Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in her accompanying statement that the continued growth of gas exports “would quickly outpace global demand” and the quantities already approved equate to “roughly half of the U.S.’s total current natural gas production today”. This is increasing the price of natural gas domestically in all sectors – homes, businesses, manufacturing, and electricity production -- benefitting companies capitalizing on the exports at the expense of consumers and economic stability here at home. This means increased financial stressors caused by higher natural gas prices for families. The report concludes that global demand will not reach full utilization of currently approved U.S. LNG export capacity, showing that further permitting would result in excess supply. Without need for the LNG, there is no public interest and DOE must deny applications for authorizations on this basis.

DOE, you must act quickly to implement these findings into the decision making process regarding the export of LNG. I and my community are counting on you to hear our concerns and to reject new and pending LNG export authorizations.

Please note: We are asking you to submit your comments directly to DOE at this LINK . We are keeping a record of comments people are submitting so please fill out the form on the sidebar of this page AFTER making your official submission to regulations.gov, especially since we are not confident that the Trump Administration will keep the docket active for the full comment period. This is why we are trying to flood the record before January 20.

Please share this call for comments widely! Thank you for taking this important action!