Poe Introduces Bill to Expedite Exports of Natural Gas

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-proliferation and Trade, I issued the following statement on H.R. 2471, the “Expedite our Economy Act of 2013,” which would remove the Department of Energy from the LNG export permitting process.

A 1938 law requires any company that seeks to export natural gas to first get approval from the Department of Energy (DOE) before getting separate approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Over the last 70 years, this bureaucratic hurdle was hardly noticed because the U.S. did not have the capability to mass export natural gas. That is no longer true. Technology has changed it all, and the amount of recoverable natural gas in our country has skyrocketed. There are some 18 export applications now pending before the DOE that if approved would inject billions of dollars into our economy. But the Department has only granted two applications in the last three years.

It is time to remove bureaucratic roadblocks and take the Department of Energy out of the approval process for natural gas exports. Unnecessary federal red tape is the only thing standing in the way of the United States exporting natural gas. Exporting natural gas would grow our economy and create thousands of new jobs. Washington should be supporting, not stonewalling, the development and exportation of this valuable resource.