The Biden administration’s “pause” on future approvals for the export of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) has enraged Republicans, spooked overseas allies that are increasingly reliant on affordable U.S. energy, and raised questions about the long-term future of the world’s newest energy powerhouse.

The Biden administration’s “pause” on future approvals for the export of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) has enraged Republicans, spooked overseas allies that are increasingly reliant on affordable U.S. energy, and raised questions about the long-term future of the world’s newest energy powerhouse.

Late last month, the Biden administration announced that it would pause regulatory approvals for LNG export projects still in the planning pipeline, though the measure won’t affect terminals already under construction. For the world’s largest exporter of LNG, the regulatory about-face was sharp: Previously, by law, all projects were approved unless there were compelling reasons to block them.

The administration highlighted two main reasons for the move. First, there were lingering fears that shipping huge quantities of cheap U.S. gas overseas could erode America’s competitive advantage of cheap energy, which is especially useful for energy-intensive industries such as steelmaking and petrochemicals. Second, and more importantly, the administration listened to environmental activists, such as the Sunrise Movement and the Vessel Project of Louisiana, who have come to believe, with much-disputed evidence, that while natural gas burns cleaner than coal, the whole process of drilling the stuff, piping it across the country, superfreezing it, and loading it on tankers to be sent around the world actually has a total climate change footprint not much cleaner than coal. The move was widely seen as a political play to galvanize young Democratic voters, many of whom rank climate change as a top voting issue, ahead of a close 2024 presidential election.

“This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time,” Biden........

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