Senate Committee To Discuss Exporting Energy And Importing Jobs

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will listen to top energy officials and policy advisers Tuesday morning at 10 am (EST) and discuss ways to export energy and import jobs.

The hearing will be webcast live on the committee’s website, with an archived video available after the hearing ends. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) chairs the committee and wrote for The Advocate Tuesday that Russia's sanction against her will not prevent her from expanding domestic energy production, increasing energy exports around the world and "supporting our allies and lovers of democracy."

"Tyrants and dictators throughout history have had many reasons to fear revolutions, and this U.S. energy revolution is no different," Landrieu wrote. "I look forward to playing a leading role bringing energy independence to America and freedom to people around the world."

Witnesses to testify include: Adam Sieminski, administrator for U.S. Energy Information Administration; Jaroslav Neverovic, minister of the Lithuanian Energy Ministry; David Montgomery, senior vice president of NERA Economic Consulting; David Goldwyn, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Edward Chow, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic International Studies.

Currently, 24 companies have filed applications and are awaiting approval from the Energy Department to export natural gas, but the agency has granted authorizations slowly. The earliest any company will export liquefied natural gas is 2015.

Seven companies have made it past that first hurdle, including a facility in Oregon on Monday. But to export LNG, companies also need to build a liquefaction plant, a big freezer. That requires approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Of those seven companies approved by the Energy Department, only one (Sabine Liquefaction, LLC in Sabine Pass, La.) has final federal approval from FERC.

Here’s an interactive map of proposed LNG export facilities in the U.S., provided by the American Petroleum Institute.