A group of House Democrats from Texas California and Alaska wrote to President Joe Biden Friday urging him to "refocus" his administration's policies on the export of liquefied natural gas.

The letter, which was signed by members including Reps. Lizzie Fletcher and Sylvia Garcia, of Houston, Marc Veasey, of Dallas and Henry Cuellar, of Laredo, comes a week after the Biden administration announced an indefinite pause on LNG permitting following a monthslong campaign by climate activists.

The members made the case that not only was U.S. LNG vital to allies in Europe and Asia but was crucial to helping the world reduce greenhouse gas emissions by allowing power grids to shift away from coal, which emits less carbon dioxide.

"Every molecule of U.S. LNG exported helps limit the growth of global emissions and provides energy security around the world," they wrote.

The Biden administration has said it is reviewing LNG sector's impact on the environment, the U.S. economy and public health, as well as the national security of the country and its allies, something that had not been done since 2019. The pause, which comes in an election year, has exposed divisions among Democrats on climate, with nine members of Congress along with tribal and community leaders gathering at an event in Washington Thursday to rally behind the administration's pause.

"Finally, the administration has said enough is enough," said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

At the center of the review are the large quantities of methane emitted during natural gas production. In a call with reporters last week, Ali Zaidi, national climate adviser to President Biden, described a LNG permitting process that, "does not benefit from the extensive amount of information we've started to gather."

"Understand methane is 80 times more potent (than carbon dioxide), and it perhaps represents up to half of degree of the warming that has already been witnessed around the world," he said. "Joe Biden is unafraid to take bold action and make necessary change."

LNG has emerged as a booming business along the Gulf Coast, with the majority of the nation's export terminals located in Texas and Louisiana. Since 2016, U.S. LNG exports have grown from a few billion cubic feet a month to 386 billion cubic feet in November, with projections that output will double by 2030 through projects already under construction.

But the question now is what will happen to the 17 projects awaiting approval from the Department of Energy to export to countries with which the United States does not have free trade agreements, which includes Europe, Japan and India. And some are asking how long gas buyers in those countries will be willing to wait for the Biden administration to finish its review.

"The United States must continue to lead the way in ensuring the security of our own energy supplies and those of our allies," the congressmen wrote. "The export of U.S. LNG fosters strong alliances and partnerships with our global counterparts."

View this article on Houston Chronicle.