Markey bill would restore ban on US fossil fuel exports

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation Thursday that will reimpose a ban on U.S. fossil fuel exports, citing environmental hazards and possible impacts on domestic prices.

The measure would “help prioritize American consumers, protect our climate and promote environmental justice and put the United States on a path to self-sufficiency through domestic clean energy production,” Markey said Thursday at a press conference on Capitol Hill, flanked by supporters of the bill from communities in the Rio Grande Valley and the Gulf Coast.

Markey disputed the idea that the ban would result in higher prices for American consumers, pointing to International Energy Agency data indicating that increased U.S. exports were accompanied by higher domestic prices for natural gas.

“So ordinary families have to pay more on their natural gas bill, because the big oil and gas companies want to sell it overseas, but that leaves less here, which drives up the price for natural gas for people who are trying to heat their homes,” he said.

Then-President Obama signed a bill in 2015 lifting a four-decade restriction on U.S. oil exports. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February, U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in particular have surged as European nations end their imports of Russian oil.

Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) introduced corresponding legislation in the House. The bill is likely doomed in the GOP-majority House, but it marks the latest collaboration between Markey and climate-focused House Democrats aimed at promoting aggressive climate action.

John Beard Jr., CEO of the Port Arthur Community Action Network, pointed to a 2022 fire at an LNG export terminal in Port Arthur, Texas, closing it for several weeks.

“In the course of that fire and explosion, in a matter of hours, the price of natural gas dipped in this country by 25 percent in a matter of hours,” Beard, a participant in the press conference, told The Hill. “Why? Because that gas was no longer being exported. By exporting it, you’re putting it on a worldwide market that is considerably higher than what we pay here domestically.”

Markey introduced similar legislation in 2021, about 10 months before the Russian invasion, which led to record U.S. LNG exports in March.