AUSTIN — Today, in a partisan move aimed at shoring up President Joe Biden’s support from climate activists, the Biden administration announced a halt to the permitting of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals. Mark P. Mills, Distinguished Senior Fellow for energy policy with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, released the following statement on the Biden administration’s temporary ban:

“This is overtly, politically opportunistic and sets a dangerous precedent with a long tail,” said Mills. “First, it’s a blow to our allies in Europe. American natural gas was a key to replacing Russian natural gas. An export ban, even if temporary, shows Europe that America is not a serious or reliable partner. More fundamentally, the Department of Energy shouldn’t even have the authority to issue such capricious edicts. American farmers don’t need permission to export wheat. In fact, our government helps farmers export. This action has even broader implications. Private investors in all large infrastructure projects will be worried, even in currently favored industries like semiconductors, that they could end up on the wrong side of political favoritism. Do we want to become increasingly a Chinese-like permission-based economy?”