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(Bloomberg) — President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is crafting an executive order to lift a moratorium on natural gas export permits that was put in place by the Biden administration, people familiar with the matter said.
The move is part of broader package of actions on US energy planned for Trump’s early days in office, said the people who asked not to be named because the information is private. The LNG executive order could mandate that the Energy Department approve pending export permits, or it could direct the agency to resume its review of applications as part of directives on energy policy, though a final approach has not yet been determined, the people said.
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The measures are also expected to include plans to make good on Trump’s campaign promises to increase drilling on federal lands and waters and repeal new environmental regulations for coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants, according to Reuters, which reported on the plans Monday.
A Trump transition team representative did not respond to a request for comment.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to rescind unspent funds from Biden’s signature climate law, get producers pumping more oil and gas and bring down energy costs as well as declare a national emergency to achieve a massive increase in domestic energy supply.
New permits to export LNG to key Asian nations and other countries that aren’t free-trade partners with the US have been on hold since January while the Biden administration examines the climate, economic and national security implications of increasing US exports of the fuel. The Biden administration could issue a study with the results of their findings as soon as this week. The findings could create legal road blocks for new permits approved under Trump if the study reports that approval of additional exports poses risks to the economy, environment or national security.
Biden’s moratorium on export approvals has threatened to disrupt plans for multibillion-dollar export projects by Venture Global LNG Inc., Energy Transfer LP and Commonwealth LNG, among other projects with permits pending before the Energy Department.
Trump has promised to end Biden’s permitting pause his “very first day back.”
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