House Republicans are expressing doubt the Department of Energy’s controversial pause on liquefied natural gas export approvals is actually grounded in good science.
This week, House Science, Space and Technology Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) led a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm asking whether the agency at least partially justified its export review pause on a recent study by Cornell professor Robert Howarth that called LNG “worse than coal” when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.
That study has been called into question by the pro-LNG think tank Breakthrough Institute, which claimed in a recent report that Howarth’s methodology was fundamentally flawed.
“The very possibility of Dr. Howarth’s erroneous study influencing the Department’s decisions demonstrates how faulty science in the name of climate can derail important policy debates, and make the global energy transition far harder,” the lawmakers wrote.
