WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) applauded the announcement that the Woodside Energy Group Ltd, will invest $17.5 billion in Calcasieu Parish for a greenfield liquified natural gas (LNG) export facility. The project, called Louisiana LNG, is the largest single greenfield investment and the largest single foreign direct investment in Louisiana history. Louisiana LNG will support 15,000 jobs during construction and thousands more per year once operational.
“History is being made today because Louisiana has become a place companies want to invest in,” said Dr. Cassidy. “President Trump’s first 100 days have been filled with great wins for American energy and jobs. Louisiana has been at the center of it.”
Louisiana LNG is the first greenfield LNG export facility to advance since President Trump rolled back the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous pause on LNG export permits.
Background
In January, Cassidy released a statement applauding President Trump’s executive order to lift the Biden administration’s harmful pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permitting. Last year, immediately following the Biden-Harris administration’s announcement that they would freeze pending applications for LNG export permits, Cassidy led 25 of his Republican colleagues in condemning the decision. Cassidy also delivered a speech on the U.S. Senator floor blasting the decision.
He also introduced with U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) the LNG Security Act to reverse President Biden’s LNG export ban and require the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to approve LNG exports to all countries that have imported, currently import, or are capable of importing Russian or Iranian natural gas. Additionally, he introduced the Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act, which depoliticizes the export of American liquefied natural gas. It eliminates the requirement for the DOE to authorize exports and instead gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sole authority over the approval process.
In February 2024, Cassidy penned an op-ed with U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Houston Chronicle underscoring the devastating economic, environmental, and national security impacts of the Biden-Harris decision to freeze new LNG export projects.
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