This isn’t about helping other countries in a short-term crisis - it’s about locking in decades of business at the expense of marginalized communities and planetary wellbeing.Īny investment in expanding fossil fuels is wildly out of step with the current science on climate change. The industry shows its hand as it pursues long-term contracts. In fact, pipelines and export facilities take years to come online. Fracked Gas Exports: No Quick Fixes, Only Long-Term ConsequencesĪnything corporations do to expand LNG today will not change prices or stop shortages in the months to come. The risks are disproportionately borne by people of color. This pollution can create smog, cause asthma and damage lungs. The projects there are set to decimate wildlife habitats, desecrate Indigenous historical sites and disproportionately impact marginalized communities with toxic pollution. One region threatened by proposed new LNG infrastructure is the Gulf coast. The number of casualties is surely higher. But only 5% of fracked gas pipelines must report incidents. These incidents killed 25 people, injured 108 and caused $1.3 billion in damages. Between 20, our government recorded 1,226 gas pipeline safety incidents, including fires and explosions. Every step of the supply chain, from drilling, to pipelines, to transport, comes with risks of explosion. The emissions of all these processes nearly equal that of burning the gas itself - in other words, exported LNG has double the climate impact of fracked gas used domestically.įracked gas infrastructure also comes with a host of health and safety risks for nearby communities.
The resulting leaks make LNG more damaging for the climate than coal.
Plus, LNG creates pressure in the tanks it’s stored in, making it necessary to vent some gas. LNG exports require liquifying, regasifying and transporting processes, which are energy-intensive and create more pollution.
LNG isn’t nearly as climate-friendly as its proponents want us to believe. Fracked Gas Presents Terminal Health Risks To People And Planet Renewables are the clear winner when it comes to securing energy security. On top of that, a May report by E3G found that the EU’s energy sector can transition off Russian gas by 2025 without the need for any new LNG infrastructure. Yet, these new export terminals won’t help Europe much when there isn’t enough infrastructure there to move fracked gas. In February, Cheniere’s CEO said to investors, “…the fact that there’s a scarcity of LNG these days is driving more and more conversation on how to increase our infrastructure and secure monthly contracts for our European customers.” This year, Cheniere, America’s largest LNG company, reported double the revenues compared to last year.Īt the same time, exporters are using the crisis in Europe as an opportunity to build out infrastructure on our shores. In 2022’s first quarter, four of the biggest gas companies reported growing sales, profits and stock buybacks. LNG companies to pull in millions of excess profits from these high prices. The growing export industry has allowed U.S. Exporting domestic supply to the highest bidder has clear impacts on our energy costs at home. The explosion stopped exports that would have gone abroad. The result: market prices for fracked gas dropped in just a few hours.
In June 2022, an explosion at a Texas LNG export facility took 20% of U.S. The growth of LNG exports caused the soaring home heating prices that slammed low-income families last winter. (Even now, with oil prices in the news daily, a barrel of crude has hovered around $100.) The new demand from Europe disrupted fracked gas markets, and prices rose as more competitors vie for supplies. Those prices, in energy terms, are comparable to a $200 barrel of oil. Fracked Gas Companies Plan To Profit While Prices Hurt FamiliesĪt the moment, global prices for LNG are nine times more than they were just two years ago. has gone from importing gas to, this year, becoming the largest LNG exporter in the world. America began exporting LNG thanks to the glut of gas brought by the fracking boom, starting about eight years ago. To export fracked gas, companies liquefy it and ship it overseas - such gas is known as liquefied natural gas (LNG). But if allowed to continue, the industry will lock in huge profits - as well as a supercharged trans-Atlantic fossil fuel trade and continued U.S. They’re touting fracked gas as an alternative to Russian fossil fuels. Companies and countries too easily manipulate the market for profit and political gain.įollowing new European sanctions against Russia, American fracked gas companies were only too happy to take advantage of the crisis. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we are yet again reminded of the dangers posed by our dependence on fossil fuels.
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