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BIG WIN!
1/26/24 Biden administration announces pause in LNG export licenses.
Huge save for the planet and our economy

Read more about the win & what it means from Bill McKibben
 

Stop the LNG Climate Bomb

You can help stop the ultimate threat to our climate

 

You thought coal was bad?

Meet Liquid Natural Gas (LNG).

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US fossil fuel corporations are proposing to build twenty huge new facilities in the Gulf of Mexico to export LNG, from fracked natural gas, around the world, quadrupling our exports.

The emissions associated with them will be

as large as all the climate emissions from every home, factory, and car in the European Union

& wipe out every bit of progress the U.S. has made on reducing carbon & methane since 2005.

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With the scientists telling us we need to dramatically cut our emissions now to avert even worse climate disasters than we are already seeing, building these plants is insanity. Plus, these plants will also raise natural gas prices in the US.

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Biden & Department of Energy Secretary Granholm can stop this madness by denying the export licenses that these companies need to sell the LNG.

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Act now. Sign the petition. Then write to DOE and the White House

Ready? Jump here for guidance on writing to Granholm & Biden.

Want to learn more? Check out some great TikTok explainers below

Or if you prefer the written word... Jump here to bypass our TikTokers & read more about LNG.

Or if you prefer protest in the streets. check out the early February actions in Washington DC

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LNG-vessel Pipeline and Gas Journal.jpg

Act now. Sign the petition.

Want more inspiration?

I also really like the reels from michael_mezz, & relauren but Instagram (who I hate) won't let me embed them here. But you can click thru to watch michael_mezz, & relauren on Instagram. Just make sure you come back here to write your letter.

Then write to DOE and the White House

Ready? Jump here for guidance on writing to Granholm & Biden. Or read on to learn more.

Then take to the streets

February 6, 7 & 8th - Join frontline leaders and national allies in Washington DC for three days of nonviolent civil disobedience at the Department of Energy to push Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy to stop approving new Liquified Natural Gas terminals, including the CP2 project in Southwest Louisiana.

Watch here for info on actions in other parts of the country.

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Why is exporting LNG a terrible idea?

 

What is Liquid Natural Gas (LNG)? These LNG export plants chill natural gas down to 260 degrees (F) below zero to turn it into a liquid (LNG), shrinking it to about 1/600th of the volume of its gas form so that it can be poured into ships and sent overseas. (Wikipedia)

 

Isn't natural gas better than coal? Nope. It is true that burning gas to generate electricity or to warm your home emits less carbon dioxide than coal. But the methane that is the primary component of "natural gas" is a much more potent climate change gas than carbon dioxide. Methane leaks everywhere along the line - from the gas well to the refineries to the pipelines to the electric plant and your kitchen stove. This undoes any of the climate benefit of not burning coal. (Natural gas can rival coal's climate-warming potential when leaks are counted, NPR 7/14/23)

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And with LNG it gets worse...

LNG is even more climate destructive than coal. More methane from the super-cooled gas boils off during loading, transport, unloading, and conversion back to normal natural gas for use. Add all of those leaks to that the energy costs to ship the gas across the ocean and you get disaster.

Under the best scenario, total greenhouse gas emissions from LNG are 24% worse than digging up and burning an equivalent amount of coal (for the most modern ship taking the most direct route).

In the worst cases LNG releases more than twice the emissions of coal (old vessels and long journeys).

(Howarth, Robert, The Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Exported from the US, Cornell University 10/24/23). See also Guardian 10/23/23).

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Why do we call it a climate bomb? A climate bomb is any facility that supports new extraction of fossil fuels from underground whose potential greenhouse gas emissions exceed 1 billion tonnes of CO2 worldwide. These facilities are calculated to be associated with an extra 3.2 billion tons of greenhouse-gas emissions annually.

To learn mare about this disastrous plan to export LNG, read Bill McKibben's excellent piece in the New Yorker or his summary in his Substack blog.

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Your letter can help stop LNG

(thanks to Bill McKibben for this guide)

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We have a realistic chance at stopping this. Which is why we hope you’ll break out your stationery box and roll of stamps. The final decision will be made by the Department of Energy, which can grant or deny export licenses to these companies depending on whether they’re in the public interest. A short primer on this (from Bill McKibben) is here.

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Write a letter NOW to:

 

The Honorable Jennifer Granholm

Secretary of Energy

U.S. Department of Energy

1000 Independence Ave. SW

Washington DC 20585

 

If you are truly allergic to writing by hand, send an email to Secretary Granholm at the.secretary@hq.doe.gov

And send your email to Biden as well through the White House contact form

 

Here are some key points you can include in your letter:

 

  • These plants are carbon and methane bombs. In the hottest year of human history it’s obscene to be putting up more of them.

  • We’re already the biggest gas exporter on earth, and have more than enough capacity to meet the needs of the Europeans in the wake of the Ukrainian war.

  • When we export all this gas, we drive up the price for those Americans who still rely on it for cooking and heating. Rejecting this project will fight inflation, which will help get the president re-elected.

  • It’s an environmental justice travesty—as usual, these projects are set for poor communities of color.

  • They’re planned for smack in the middle of the worst hurricane belt in the hemisphere.

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Suspend the approval of the export licenses. Rewrite the criteria for export licenses so that we don't allow stuff like this that is clearly not in the national interest (they’re currently using a Trump-era formula).

 

Let us know what you do. If you do write a letter, take a picture of it and email it to takingaction@thirdact.org, so they can keep track of what’s happening.

 

Remember, the penmanship you learned long ago is a secret weapon. Bureaucrats are used to getting email petitions; they’re not used to getting old-school letters. They know it takes effort, and they pay attention. (But don't keep not being willing to write stop you from acting - sign the petition and email DOE & the WH).

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AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS

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I think we can win this fight, and if we do it will be the biggest win on the climate front since we sunk the Keystone pipeline. But we can only do it if we act right now.

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From a guide by Bill McKibben, Founder, Third Act and author of the The Crucial Years blog

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