The Biden administration enforced a temporary ban on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports beginning in January. Credit: lev radin via Shutterstock.

The Republican-held US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill seeking to reverse President Joe Biden’s decision, made earlier this year, to freeze approvals of LNG exports.

The bill, hoping to strip the Biden administration’s power to halt exports, will now go to the Democrat-controlled Senate, where it will likely face a steep uphill battle. The bill was approved by 224 votes to 200.

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To become law, the proposed legislation must now pass through the Senate and then be signed by Biden himself – both of which are very unlikely.

ClearView Energy Partners, a non-partisan policy research group, told reporters that the bill is more of a “messaging effort and a start to debate than an end to the pause”, and that it was unlikely to clear the Senate.

If approved, the bill would hinder the Department of Energy (DOE) from approving or disapproving exports. It would also leave the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as the sole body approving LNG projects.

Biden paused approvals for LNG exports last month as his administration looked to revise environmental and economic impacts of the industry. Last year, the US became the world’s biggest exporter of LNG, with current exported volumes expected to at least double by the end of the decade.

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Texan Representative August Pfluger, sponsor of the bill, said US LNG is required by the country’s allies, including those in Europe, as they continue to wean themselves off Russian gas as its war in Ukraine wears on. “The world needs US LNG. This catastrophic, politically based and legally dubious ban must be reversed immediately,” he said.

Democrat Representative Maxwell Frost praised climate advocates who fought LNG projects, calling them heroes. “I can only hope and pray and fight to make sure that we build off” Biden’s pause to “get to a green, clean future”.

Last month, the White House delayed a decision on its Louisiana LNG project, which would be the biggest in the country once operational, following criticism from environmental groups. The government directed the DOE to expand a review of the country’s LNG exports to include more climate change criteria. A further 16 proposed LNG export projects could be delayed by these new criteria.