Environmental Groups Petition Commerce Department to Ban Natural Gas Exports
The Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace (Petitioners) have filed a petition requesting that the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) “immediately promulgate a rule or rules prohibiting the export of all natural gas products . . . from the United States pursuant to Section 103 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended.” The petition states that Section 103 of EPCA “requires that a rule be promulgated ‘prohibiting the export of crude oil and natural gas produced in the United States,’” and that while rules prohibiting the export of crude oil were promulgated in a timely manner after the enactment of EPCA, “DOC failed its statutory mandate to promulgate a rule prohibiting natural gas exports.” With direct reference to hydraulic fracturing, Petitioners argue that a prohibition is necessary “[t]o prevent further negative impacts resulting from natural gas exports[.]”
Read more in the press release.