We, the undersigned organizations, respectfully petition you to stop the proliferation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities. It is urgent that your Administration takes bold steps to build a green energy economy and encourage the same worldwide. Your pledge to decarbonize and replace fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy sources requires, in the first instance, rolling back the Trump Administration’s efforts to expand dirty fossil fuels and rescue the failing Oil and Gas Industry through a policy of “energy dominance”.

One action that needs to be taken immediately is to stop the implementation of Mr. Trump’s Executive Order and subsequent rulemaking to allow the transport of LNG by rail. This is a reckless and potentially catastrophic deregulation that endangers millions of Americans. We are also asking that your administration immediately stop the Trump Administration’s changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for LNG export projects that exempt facilities from review by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) through categorical exclusions, and especially including non-FERC-jurisdictional LNG export facilities where no NEPA review had ever been performed by any federal agency. These changes undermine essential protection afforded in NEPA’s environmental review process. Furthermore, you should use your executive authority to issue an Executive Order halting gas exports to the fullest extent allowed by the Natural Gas Act. Overall, your immediate action is needed to stop the expansion of LNG that only serves special interests, puts profits over people, and leaves the public and the environment in harm’s way.

Communities of color and those with low household incomes comprise about 38 percent of the people living within three miles of proposed LNG facilities. In addition to safety threats, public health is negatively impacted by air pollution from LNG processing, including particulate matter 2.5, total particulate matter, hazardous air pollutants such as benzene and mercury compounds, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, sulfuric acid, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides. Those closest to the emission source receive the most harm from most pollutants. Furthermore, the enormous footprint of these emissions can cause damage to human health for up to 159 miles. Additionally, recent analyses show a disturbing relationship between COVID-19 and air pollution: the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increases as PM 2.5 increases and potential death rate from the virus also rises.
 
Throughout gas and oil extraction, development, delivery, and end use, public health is harmed, especially for those on the frontlines. The history of disproportionate current and historic environmental burdens on black and brown communities and the poor is a pattern of gross environmental injustice that is intolerable. In your January 27th “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad Executive Order”, you commit your administration to centering environmental justice in a “whole of government” approach; stopping LNG export and its infrastructure is a priority to address these oppressive inequities.

LNG is fracked methane gas that is extracted from shale formations and processed into a liquid state by cooling to minus 260 degrees F, reducing its volume by more than 600 times to facilitate storage and transport. LNG is classified as a hazardous material. When spilled, it becomes flammable and potentially explosive, posing significant and unmitigatable danger to public safety and health and to the environment. This threat to public safety accompanies every step of LNG’s supply chain including processing, handling, transloading, storage, and transporting. The risks of potential catastrophic damage to human life and the environment posed by a fire and/or explosion from a spill or breach of an LNG container outweigh any claimed benefits of this alternative fuel.

The full life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions from extraction and liquefaction to end use are so great that, depending on amounts released and vented, they can be as bad or worse than coal in terms of atmospheric warming, exacerbating climate change. Methane is 86 times more powerful than carbon in heating the atmosphere on a 20-year time scale. LNG production  increases greenhouse gas emissions at the very time we, as a nation, are supposed to be achieving substantial reductions (reducing greenhouse gases by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030) in order to do our part to combat the climate crisis.

A recent report documents that from 2018 to 2019, the oil and gas sector experienced the largest year-to-year growth in reported greenhouse gas emissions, led by LNG, which reported a 52% emissions increase. Another new report found that producing, liquefying, and transporting the gas will generate up to 213 million metric tons of new greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. alone by 2030, equal to the annual emissions of up to 45 million cars. The export of LNG for use overseas further increases emissions as the gas travels by ship, is regasified and finally burned, discharging both methane (primarily from regasification) and carbon dioxide (primarily from combustion), contravening global climate goals.

The expansion of LNG export capacity requires the proliferation of gas drilling and fracking to feed the demand created by the export market. This induces new and expanded fracking and its infrastructure, such as pipelines and, with that, environmental destruction, public health harm, and climate damage. Economic analysts explain that increasing gas takeaway capacity induces the production of gas. The higher priced markets reached through exporting LNG overseas provide incentive that would not exist for domestic natural gas otherwise. But the externalized costs for the public rise exponentially as the industry profits.

Investing in capital-intensive LNG export infrastructure increases consumption of natural gas globally and means dependence on polluting fossil fuels for decades more, displacing clean renewables and disincentivizing efficient energy use. Additionally, demand for LNG in today’s global market is in steady decline, threatening to turn LNG facilities into stranded assets. Prices for LNG hit record lows as markets globalized and U.S. LNG production soared in 2019, producing a global supply glut. In fact, today there is more LNG export capacity in development in the U.S. than was consumed globally in 2019. Policy decisions in France and Ireland in recent weeks are shutting out LNG imports, and the economic forecast for LNG is unstable at best. The growth of renewable non-fossil fuel energy sources and energy efficiencies are more economically beneficial, climate friendly, and provide more self-determination for communities. We need a secure green energy future worthy of public investment.

In conclusion, we urgently need your Administration to take bold steps to build a green and ethical energy economy. This requires rolling back the Trump Administration’s efforts to expand dirty fossil fuels and deregulate environmental protections while, at the same time, supporting  your pledge to decarbonize the economy with carbon-free, renewable, environmentally just, and energy-efficient  systems. Your immediate action is needed to stop the export of LNG and its service to special interests at the expense of the public good.

Bill McKibben, author and environmentalist
350 Philadelphia, Mitch Chanin, Steering Committee Member, PA
350.org, National
Berks Gas Truth, Karen Feridun, Founder, PA
Beyond Extreme Energy, Ted Glick, organizer, National
BlueWaveNJ, John Reichman, Chair, Environment Committee, NJ
Businesses for a Livable Climate, Marie Venner, Co-chair, CO
Call to Action Colorado, Marie Venner, Co-chair, CO
CatholicNetwork.US, Marie Venner, Co-chair, National
Catskill Mountainkeeper, Wes Gillingham, Associate Director, NY
Center for Biological Diversity, Kassie Siegel, Climate Law Institute Director, National
Center for Earth Ethics, Karenna Gore, National
Clean Water Action, Amy Goldsmith, NJ State Director, Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Director
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, B. Arrindell, Director, Delaware River Basin
Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, and Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware River Watershed
Earthworks, Jennifer Krill, Director, National
EMPOWER NJ, Jeff Tittel representing Steering Committee, NJ
Food & Water Watch, Mitch Jones, Policy Director, National
Food and Water Action Europe, Frida Kieninger, Senior Campaigner, EU
Friends of the Earth US, Nicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuels Program Manager, National
Green Amendments For The Generations, Maya K. van Rossum, founder, National
Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, Colette Pinchon Battle, Gulf Coast
Love Leitrim, Jamie Murphy, Chairperson, County Leitrim, Republic Of Ireland
Pegasus Foundation, Patricia Ragan, Executive Director, FLA
Philly Boricuas, Adrián Rivera-Reyes, PhD, co-founder, PA
Protect Northern PA, Diana G Dakey, Facilitator, PA
RapidShift Network, Marie Venner, Co-chair, CO
Rogue Climate, Allie Rosenbluth, Campaigns Director, Southern Oregon
Safety Before LNG, John McElligott, PRO/Member, County Kerry, Ireland
Save RGV, Bill Berg, Board Member, TX
Sierra Club, Atlantic Chapter, Roger Downs, Director, New York
Stand.earth, Matt Krogh, US Oil & Gas Campaign Director, National
Suwannee Riverkeeper, John S. Quarterman, FLA and GA
Turtle Island Restoration Network, Joanie Steinhaus, Gulf Program Director, National

Signers since February 15
198 methods
350 Charlotte
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350 Eugene
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Action Together NJ
Allegheny County Clean Air Now (ACCAN)
AMP Creeks Council
Baltimore Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter Veterans For Peace
Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community (BCMAC)
Better Path Coalition
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
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Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora
Breathe Easy Susquehanna County
Breathe Project
Bucks County Concerned Citizens Against the Pipelines
Bucks Environmental Action
Camp White Pine
Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas
Cascadia Climate Action Now
Cedar.green (formerly Stop Fracked Gas-PDX/Stop Zenith Collaborative)
Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War
Central Jersey Environmental Defenders
Citizens for Renewables
Clean Air Council
Clean Ocean Action
Clean Water Action- Pennsylvania
Climate Change Awareness and Action
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Climate Reality Project - Lehigh Valley Chapter
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ClimateMama
CNY Solidarity Coalition Climate Justice Committee
Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline - NJ
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Coalition for Peace Action
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Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains
Comité Diálogo Ambiental
Comite Dialogo Ambiental, Inc.
Concerned Health Professionals of New York
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DivestNJ Coalition
Don't Gas the Meadowlands Coalition
Douglas County Global Warming Coalition
Earth Action, Inc.
Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light
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Elizabeth Nields Clay Workshop
Environmental Justice Taskforce of the Western NY Peace Center
Extinction Rebellion Kentucky
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FreshWater Accountability Project
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Greenpeace USA
HEALING & PROTECTING OUR LAND TOGETHER - A CALL TO PRAYER
Healthy Gulf
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Honor the Earth
Howard County Climate Action, MD
Indigenous Environmental Network
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Indivisible NJ5
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JFK Democratic Club
LAWPA (Local Authority Western PA)
Lebanon Pipeline Awareness
LEPOCO Peace Center (Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern)
Living Rivers & Colorado Riverkeeper
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MarchOnHarrisburg
Milwaukee Riverkeeper
MMR Medical
Mothers Against Sport Hunting
Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance
Mountain Watershed Association
NC-APPPL: Alliance to Protect Our People and the Places We Live
New York Climate Action Group
New York Communities for Change
New York Water Action
NJ Forest  Watch/Friends of Sparta Mountain
NJ State Industrial Union Council
NJ Student Sustainability Coalition
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No Methanol 360
No North Brooklyn Pipeline
None
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Oceanic Global
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Oil Change International
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Orange Residents Against Pilgrim Pipelines
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
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OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Partnership for Sustainability
Pegasus Foundation
PennFuture
Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air
People for a Healthy Environment
People Over Pipelines
Philadelphia Be The Change
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Philly Boricuas
Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
Pinelands Preservation Alliance
Plastic Pollution Coalition
Polemics Journal of the Working Class Struggle
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Preserve Montgomery County VA
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Zero Hour







To view the letter with citations hyperlinked go to: https://bit.ly/BidenStopLNGExport