Olivia Woods
On Thursday, a document revealed that the Biden administration had given its approval to the export of liquefied natural gas from the Alaska LNG project, putting the United States in direct competition with Russia to transport Arctic natural gas to Asia.
The U.S. Energy Department approved Alaska Gasline Development Corp’s (AGDC) proposal to ship liquefied natural gas to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement.
If all permissions are granted, the $39 billion project is expected to be completed by 2030, according to its supporters. The majority of the LNG exports would go to Asian countries.
Frank Richards, the president of AGDC, an Alaskan company, stated that they would be looking over the 51-page decision as they develop the project, which will “provide Alaskans and U.S. allies with a significant source of low-emissions, responsibly produced energy consistent with international environmental priorities.”
The Alaska LNG project consists of constructing a facility on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska’s south that would liquefy gas, as well as a proposed 1,300-km pipeline to transport gas that is currently stuck in the northern part of the state.
The Trump administration initially allowed for the exportation of the Alaska LNG project, yet environmental organizations opposed it. The Biden administration conducted an assessment and determined that it has both economic and international security advantages and could not be proven to be not in the “public interest”.
The earlier approval was changed by the Biden administration so that greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the project could not be released into the atmosphere.
Environmental organizations denounced the decision as a “carbon bomb.”
Lukas Ross of Friends of the Earth expressed his concern that “Joe Biden’s climate presidency is flying off the rails,” he also mentioned two separate federal approvals of a “fossil fuel mega-project” within months.
Last month, the Biden administration gave the green light to ConocoPhillips’ Willow project, a $7 billion oil and gas project located on Alaska’s North Slope.
By the end of 2023, Russia intends to initiate the first of three stages of its Arctic LNG-2 project, which is one of the biggest LNG facilities in the world.
The Biden administration is attempting to increase the number of U.S. liquified natural gas exports in order to compete with Russia, which has a long history of being one of the biggest energy providers in the world.
Western sanctions against Russia have been imposed due to their invasion of Ukraine, and the United States has increased the export of liquified natural gas to Europe after Moscow reduced the supply of gas through pipelines.
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