Biden Pauses Liquefied Natural Gas Export Projects after Targeted Climate Defiance Protests

During President Biden’s first term as US president, the US became the world’s largest exporter of natural gas as well as the world’s largest producer of oil. Biden had done little to reverse these trends, instead giving the green light to the massive Willow Project in Alaska and leasing millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil drilling. So there seemed to be little hope of stopping the planned buildout of a massive increase in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export infrastructure on the Gulf Coast, which would have combined annual carbon emissions nearly equivalent to the entire European Union, as well as devastating impacts on the people and ecosystems already ravaged by industrial pollution on the Gulf Coast.

But when faced with the threat of annihilation, the only thing to do is fight, and the US climate movement mounted a powerful resistance to these proposed projects. CEF grantee Climate Defiance played a critical role in these efforts, repeatedly targeting members of the Biden Administration and demanding that LNG expansion be cancelled.

In January 2024, the climate movement received astounding news: the Biden Administration was “pausing” approvals of all new LNG export facilities, a truly monumental win. Bill McKibben called this “the biggest thing a U.S. president has ever done to stand up to the fossil fuel industry.”

This move from the Biden Administration came just weeks after a meeting between Climate Defiance and Top US Climate Diplomat John Podesta, who allegedly blurted out during the meeting, “why do you keep bringing up CP2 over and over again?" US representative Ro Khanna says that he gives Climate Defiance “the most credit” for the LNG postponement, calling them a “game-changing organization.” We are incredibly proud to be Climate Defiance’s lead funder, and we can’t wait to see what the disruptive climate movement will win next.