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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
The GOP-led House handed President Joe Biden’s climate agenda a big defeat after approving key legislation last week that would strip him of blanket authority when it comes to the permitting of new liquified natural gas projects.
The Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act was approved by the House in a 224-200 vote, as nine Democrats voted with 215 Republicans in support of the legislation, making the defeat officially bipartisan.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, chairman of the House Energy Action Team, introduced the legislation on Feb. 1. The legislation aims to reverse Biden’s recent actions, which temporarily halted permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects.
“Just last year, President Biden told the Europeans that they needed to get off Russian gas and that the U.S. would supply their liquid natural gas needs. Now that it is an election year, he is reneging on that deal to appease his radical climate base,” Pfluger told Fox News Digital ahead of the vote.
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“Two-thirds of the world’s natural gas is produced in four countries: Russia, Iran, the United States, and Qatar. This effective ban on U.S. LNG exports is a gift to Putin and the Iranian regime that just killed three service members with their weapons to the Houthis,” the Texas lawmaker continued. “I am proud to stand up for American jobs when the president seems to only stand up for the interests of Russia and Iran.”
Some of the most recent issue-related surveys heading into the 2024 election put “climate change” and “the climate” way down the list of top concerns, which include economic worries, the chaotic U.S.-Mexico border, and inflation.
The Texas lawmaker noted further that Russian natural gas, which is filling the gaps in the global market, is 40 percent dirtier and worse for the environment and, ostensibly, the climate than U.S. LNG.
Fox News added:
If enacted, Pfluger’s bill would amend the Natural Gas Act of 1938, giving the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) exclusive authority to approve or deny applications for the siting, construction, expansion or operation of LNG export projects.
And in approving or rejecting permits, FERC would be required under the bill to “deem the importation or exportation of natural gas to be consistent with the public interest.”
“Joe Biden would rather appease the radical environmentalists in his party than protect hardworking Americans. House Republicans will not stand idly by while the Biden administration’s Green New Deal agenda destroys American jobs, stifles American energy, and benefits our adversaries,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Last month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) cheered a decision by some of America’s and the world’s biggest financial institutions to abandon a $68 trillion climate alliance that was founded by the United Nations and backed by the Biden administration.
In a surprising turn of events, JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest bank, and State Street Global Advisors, an institutional investor overseeing $3.5 trillion in assets, announced their withdrawal from the Climate Action 100+ investor group. Also, BlackRock, which is managing over $10 trillion in assets, significantly reduced its participation in the alliance, Fox News reported at the time.
“This is great news because you’re supposed to make investment decisions based on just good common business sense, your fiduciary responsibility to your investors, not based on left-wing woke politics,” Jordan told Fox News Digital. “So, yeah, this is a win for America, a win for the economy, a win for Americans and investors, and, more importantly, it’s a win for freedom.”
“The folks who are involved in these banks are smart people, successful people. They’ve done well. I think deep down they know decisions should be based on the market, on principles of capitalism, not on politics,” he added.
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