Press Releases

Pfluger's Bill to Unlock Domestic LNG Potential Advanced by House Energy Subcommittee

Washington, June 6, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC — The House Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy Subcommittee advanced Congressman August Pfluger's (TX-11) bill to slash red tape and remove burdensome energy export restrictions imposed by former President Biden.

The Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act depoliticizes the export of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) by eliminating the requirement for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to authorize its export and instead giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sole authority over the approval process.

Read more about this legislation in The Daily Caller.

Watch Rep. Pfluger's remarks during the Subcommittee's markup in support of his legislation HERE or by clicking the image below.

Read his remarks as delivered below:

H.R. 1949, Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act, is commonsense. And when you look at section three of the Natural Gas Act, it requires that natural gas exports to countries that have a free trade agreement with the United States be approved without delay. For countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the U.S., the energy secretary is required to approve export requests unless they find that such exports will not be consistent with the public interest.

Therefore, the Natural Gas Act includes a rebuttable presumption in favor of authorizing U.S. LNG exports in early 2024, after succumbing to political pressure from environmental activists. The previous administration announced a ban on issuing export permits to non-FTA countries while it reviewed the climate impacts of U.S. LNG.

During this ban, America's energy dominance took a major hit. Russia overtook the U.S. as the leading gas supplier to Europe. Long-term American contracts were not only jeopardized, but they were actually damaged - some of them irreparably - and globally, buyers were forced to look toward less clean sources. Thankfully, the Trump administration quickly reversed this ban, and just last week, the DOE issued its first LNG export approval.

My legislation is simple. The Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act would ensure that a ban is never placed on U.S. LNG exports again. By removing DOE from the process, export restrictions would be repealed, and LNG exports would have equal treatment with other commodities. LNG exports unequivocally benefit our economy, domestic prices, our security, and partners and allies around the world that want our product.

Congress needs to act to remove the politics from these exports, just as this committee did when it lifted the crude oil export ban in 2015. The IEA expects global gas demand to reach record highs in the coming years, underscoring the need for new LNG supply. It must be the United States, not Iran, not Russia, not any other adversary, who meets this demand and supplies affordable, clean, and abundant LNG to the world.

I urge my colleagues to support this very commonsense legislation and to vote in favor of H.R. 1949. I yield back.