Tell DOE to STOP LNG Exports! Let's build the record on truth and facts! Please SIGN the Petition!

United States Department of Energy

TELL TRUMP, DOE SEC’Y CHRIS WRIGHT AND HIS FRACKING CRONIES NO LNG EXPORTS!

LAST CALL for weighing in with the US Dept. of Energy (DOE) to tell them to stop approvals of LNG exports! DEADLINE IS MARCH 20

We want the DOE to follow the findings in their extensive report that shows that LNG exports harm communities, the environment and make the climate crisis worse; are an economic loser; and are not needed or wanted to meet the world’s energy needs.

When Trump took office, he extended the comment period on this DOE report to March 20 to try to get some of his LNG cheerleaders to submit comments. S&P Global did just that with a biased report filled with inaccuracies. We must counter that with our voices – to speak the truth and stand firm, which will help us all in challenges to the DOE’s decision down the road should they foolishly ignore their own agency’s conclusions.

So, the DOE docket is open to receive comments still and we need lots of comments now. Let's not cede this ground. Please sign this petition now and ask your friends, neighbors, and family to do the same so we make lots of noise as the deadline closes Thursday night!

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. An outpouring of public opposition to LNG exports will bolster the public’s demand for a fair, comprehensive and accurate analysis of the public interest determination of each LNG export project.

Mounting a strong record defending the interests of the public over special corporate self-interests, we will have powerful information we can use to fight the LNG exports that the incoming administration will be pushing. We have a way to put our concerns and opinions on the government record – let’s take advantage of that and swamp the DOE with signatures!

For those who want more detail on the LNG export issue and the DOE Report, see Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s technical comment here.

The comment period closes March 20. Our petition will be submitted March 19, so please sign the petition and share it widely! Thank you!


To: United States Department of Energy
From: [Your Name]

​I am opposed to the exportation of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).

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.

We do not need 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.