Federal Court Enjoins President Biden’s Pause on Pending LNG Exports

July 2, 2024

Federal Court Enjoins President Biden's Pause on Pending LNG Exports

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A decision issued by a judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on Monday preliminarily enjoined the Biden Administration's pause of pending liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. The court swept aside the administration's arguments that the court lacked jurisdiction over the lawsuit and permitted the attack on the pause by 16 Republican attorneys general closely tied to fossil fuel interests to move forward.

The court's decision, however, does not appear to prevent the U.S. Department of Energy from moving forward with its re-evaluation of public interest criteria used to determine whether pending LNG exports are in the public interest. Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, issued the following statement:

"The order does not require the Department of Energy to approve any particular pending LNG export authorization. The Department of Energy should continue performing its statutory obligation to modernize the studies underlying its public interest criteria to determine the harm LNG exports have on American working families, domestic manufacturing, vulnerable frontline communities, and the climate."

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