Moniz: Department of Energy Will Move 'Expeditiously' On LNG Exports

• Marie Cusick
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  Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

Speaking this morning at the Energy Information Administration conference Washington D.C., newly confirmed Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says his agency will move “expeditiously” to evaluate applications for more liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities.
The push to export comes as the industry has seen a boom in shale production. It’s produced a glut of gas that has depressed prices in the U.S., while prices overseas remain high.
Shortly after Moniz’s confirmation in May, the Obama administration announced its second approved LNG export terminal.
But a week later Moniz said additional research was needed before he could approve any more of the roughly 20 pending applications.
Speaking before Congress last week, Moniz said he would act on the export applications before the end of the year, but when pressed today by reporters, he wouldn’t elaborate on a timeline.
Moniz said the Department of Energy will examine as many as they “can responsibly go through” by year’s end.
“We will do a case-by-case evaluation of all the applications,” he said.
As StateImpact Pennsylvania recently reported, plans to put an LNG export facility in Cove Point, Maryland have some environmentalists concerned about how it would impact the Chesapeake Bay.
It’s the closest proposed facility to Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale.
 

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