2011-08-5

This just in from the AP: The federal government granted permission to Lake Charles Exports LLC to export domestically produced natural gas to other countries. This is the second time the US has allowed a company to export liquiefied natural gas. Coupled with the Energy Information Administration¹s announcement earlier in the year that America was exporting more petroleum products than it was importing, this makes 2011 the year the US become an energy exporter to the world.

This does call into question oil and gas companies’ claims that they need billions in government handouts to stay in business. And that Americans are paying high prices at the pump because of supply problems, which would be fixed if only oil and gas companies could have all the public land for drilling.

The fact that we have high enough domestic energy production to ship it to other countries is a fact that oil company CEOs and the politicians who represent them in Washington will have to face.