Senator Scott Slams Biden Administration for Folding to Special Interests, Radical Climate Agenda at the Expense of American Taxpayers

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) and 24 Republican colleagues in sending a letter to the Biden administration, opposing its pause on all pending non-FTA export permit applications, which props up radical climate lobbyists. The letter to President Biden and Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm comes ahead of a pending executive order to re-evaluate the criteria to approve permits for liquified natural gas (LNG) export projects – a decision that entails devastating repercussions for the U.S. economy and national security. 

“U.S. LNG exports have served as a vital lifeline for countries in Europe and across the globe,” wrote the senators. “Nearly half of U.S. LNG exports have been delivered to Europe to date, with a significant increase in exports following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. When European imports of LNG increased by 60 percent in 2022, U.S. LNG met that demand. Without U.S. LNG exports, European leaders would have to decide between depriving their own citizens of energy or actively funding Russia’s war on Ukraine,”

“Limiting U.S. LNG exports do not have any impact on the world’s demand for natural gas. Instead, countries including Russia and Iran will simply produce more energy that is subject to less stringent environmental regulations. As a result, limiting American LNG exports in the name of stopping climate change could do just the opposite and add to global emissions,” concluded the senators. “We strongly urge you to stop this shortsighted effort. As the President of the United States and as the Secretary of Energy, you should be championing – not undermining – American LNG exports and the environmental, economic, and national security benefits to the United States and our allies.”

Senators Scott and Cassidy were joined by U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jim Risch (R-Ind.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Pete Ricketts (R-Nev.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), John Cornyn (R-Texas), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) in signing the letter.

Read the letter in full here. 

BACKGROUND

Senator Scott has repeatedly countered the Biden administration’s environmental agenda and executive overreach by:

• Joining his Senate colleagues in introducing the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act, which prohibits the EPA from finalizing, implementing or enforcing its proposed emissions rule;
• Sending a letter to the EPA urging them to withdraw the unlawful “Clean Power Plan 2.0,” which effectively shuts down affordable and reliable energy, intensifying the energy shortage the United States is already facing;
• Standing against U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s proposal to ban gas ranges and stoves; and 
• Filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the petitioners in the case West Virginia, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that the EPA acted outside its congressionally-authorized authority by issuing significantly overreaching rules to transform the nation’s power sector through emissions regulations.