Trump restarts stalled natural gas export approvals paused by Biden

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14154, 'Unleashing American Energy.' Section 8(a) of the order directs the Secretary of Energy to restart federal reviews of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project applications 'as expeditiously as possible,' reversing the January 2024 pause that the Biden administration had put in place to study the environmental and economic effects of the LNG export boom. At the time of the pause, plants representing nearly 100 million metric tons per annum of additional LNG export capacity expected by 2031 had been blocked, including Commonwealth LNG in Louisiana, Venture Global's CP2, Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass expansion, Energy Transfer's Lake Charles terminal, and Sempra's Port Arthur LNG Phase 2. The U.S. was already the world's largest LNG exporter when the pause was lifted, with shipments having set a record in 2023.