On Thursday the Republican Attorneys General of 16 states, led by Texas and Louisiana, filed a suit seeking to end the Biden administration's "pause" on liquid natural gas (LNG) exports. This "pause" was put in place in January. The suit claims that the Biden administration has no authority to implement such a pause.

The states, led by Louisiana and Texas, demand the Department of Energy overturn the ban, which was announced in January. They claim the administration lacks authority to unilaterally deny the permits, and that the ban goes against Congress.

“This ban disregards statutory mandates, flouts the normal regulatory process, upends the industry, disrupts Plaintiffs’ economies, and subverts our constitutional structure,” the suit reads. “These unlawful actions leave Plaintiffs with no choice but to once more turn to the courts to enforce the law.”

The suit claims that Biden’s ban comes at the whims of “activists” and is motivated by politics, adding that it comes “in the midst of an election year, and after a sustained pressure campaign from billionaire conglomerates, celebrities, ‘influencers,’ and banks.”

This move is part and parcel of this administration's ongoing attempts to hamstring the energy sector, from halting extraction efforts to mandating electric vehicles.

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Congressional Republicans had previously, and unsuccessfully, tried to convince the Biden administration to rescind the ban on exports.

The suit comes after Congressional Republicans repeatedly urged Biden to go back on the ban. House Oversight Committee Republicans demanded details on the policy in a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm last week.

“The timing of the decision, in an election year, raises the likelihood that political motivations drove the action,” the three Republicans wrote, citing reporting in The Wall Street Journal suggesting the administration consulted with environmental advocacy groups ahead of the announcement.

The timing is indeed interesting; the Biden administration could have attempted such an export ban in the first or second year in office, but did not do so; that begs the question, "Why now?" President Biden's slumping poll numbers would seem to indicate that shoring up the Democrat Party's base may be a good idea, and this would appear to be an attempt to do so. The timing is even more suspect when weighed against the Biden administration's approval of the huge Willow oil extraction project in Alaska.

As the suit points out:

The shale revolution and increased production opportunities have a profound effect on the United States. Nearly 187 million Americans use natural gas, and the natural gas industry currently supports over four million jobs. 

As a result, the United States is the world leader in natural gas production and ranked first in the world in natural gas exports, at eight-six million metric tons, in 2023.

It's difficult to see how this export ban serves any purpose as anything other than the Biden administration throwing a bone to anti-energy interests. The ban will not lessen the amount of natural gas burned, for any purpose, but it will cause economic harm to Americans working in the energy sector. 

The United States is, at present, the world's greatest exporter of natural gas. It's inexplicable that the Biden administration would seek to change that.

You can read the lawsuit in its entirety here.