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In a year when Obama has vowed to use his executive powers to get things done, Lisa Murkowski, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee, told the Financial Times he should put them to work on energy exports.
“It’s an important signal, and the beautiful thing about this is we don’t need to drop a bill and go through this whole long legislative process,” the senator said. “The president can act on this.”
But Murkowski said she did not think Obama had the “guts” to do it ahead of midterm elections in No¬vember, because Democratic donors and voters concerned about the en¬vironment would oppose any move that could lead to more drilling.
The Ukraine crisis has prompted several Republican lawmakers and a handful of Democrats to issue calls – and introduce legislation – to lift restrictions on natural gas exports to reduce European allies’ dependence on Russian gas.
The urgency of the calls has not been dulled by the reality that, export limits aside, the US will not have the infrastructure to export gas from its shale energy boom until next year.
The White House last week noted that no export terminals were ready and said there was little risk of a gas shortage in Europe because liquefied natural gas inventories were above normal levels. He also said that Russia would hurt itself by foregoing gas revenue if it cut off supplies.
Central and eastern European countries have added to the pres¬sure. Last week the Washington ambassadors of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia wrote to the top lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives urging them to help expedite US gas exports.
Murkowski noted that proposed army cuts would leave the US with fewer soldiers to send into crisis zones. “How else can we show influ¬ence? How else can we bring about a level of stability? It is through our energy resources.”
Murkowski is from oil-rich Alas¬ka and, like several other lawmak¬ers, supports an end to export limits partly because that is what oil and gas companies want. They say they would drill more and create more US jobs if they could sell more energy overseas.
At present there is a de facto ban on US oil exports. While US natural gas can be sold overseas, exports to countries without a trade agreement with the US – including the EU – re¬quire government approval.
So far only six applications have been approved and the industry says the process is far too slow.
