Department of Energy insiders say White House buried favorable emissions findings to justify LNG export halt, misled public on climate impact.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Biden administration deliberately suppressed a finalized study showing the environmental benefits of expanding U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to justify a politically-driven energy policy decision, according to four Department of Energy (DOE) sources cited in a report by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In January 2024, former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and then-President Joe Biden announced a pause on LNG export approvals pending a review of their climate and economic impact. However, DOE sources revealed that a comprehensive draft of the study, finalized in September 2023, contradicted the administration’s rationale, finding that increased LNG exports would lower global emissions. That draft was reportedly shelved and replaced with a revised version more favorable to the administration’s policy goals.
“The Energy Department has learned that former Secretary Granholm and the Biden White House intentionally buried a lot of data and released a skewed study to discredit the benefits of American LNG,” one DOE official told the Daily Caller. “They were prioritizing their own political ambitions over the interests of the American people, and the administration intentionally deceived the American public to advance an agenda that harmed American energy security, the environment and American lives.”
The withheld draft included a key market analysis demonstrating that U.S. LNG exports would reduce global emissions by replacing higher-polluting energy sources overseas. That analysis was absent from the final study released publicly in December 2024, which concluded that any increase in LNG exports would raise global greenhouse gas emissions — the basis for Granholm’s and Biden’s public claims justifying the freeze.
According to DOE sources, an unnamed administration official halted publication of the favorable September 2023 draft, marking it as part of an internal deliberative process. Portions of the report were subsequently deleted from the public version.
DOE insiders say the suppressed evidence will be provided to Congress. “At the time Granholm said that, they were literally hiding from the public the most up-to-date economic and environmental analyses available because it contradicted the very ban that they were trying to institute,” a DOE source stated. “When you look at what they hid and what they were saying at the same time, it becomes very clear that they weren’t interested in following the science… They were interested in making decisions that benefited them politically, and manipulating the science by whatever means necessary.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson recalled in January 2025 that President Biden “genuinely didn’t know what he had signed” when asked about the LNG export halt, raising further concerns about who was steering major policy decisions.
Despite stating the pause would allow for responsible review, the Biden DOE’s actions contradicted that claim. Granholm insisted the review was necessary to “ensure DOE remains a responsible actor using the most up-to-date analyses,” while Biden declared the pause reflected the administration’s commitment to addressing “the existential threat” of climate change.
The DOE, in its official statement on the pause, promised to review whether increasing LNG exports aligned with the public interest, but according to internal sources, that determination had already been made — and buried — months prior.
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