WASHINGTON I U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), who serves on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, met with representatives from European embassies Tuesday and underscored his commitment to expanding U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to our allies and trading partners abroad.
Udall said Colorado and the United States can and should develop our natural gas resources to create jobs at home, confront international bullies like Russian President Vladimir Putin and promote stability abroad.
“Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas has left our friends, allies and trading partners vulnerable to the tactics Russia has demonstrated in recent months in Ukraine,” Udall said. “This is unacceptable and underscores why we need to move forward with exporting U.S. natural gas resources.
“This cannot wait, and I am continuing to work with the leaders of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to set aside politics and move forward on this bipartisan effort to expand LNG exports,” he said.
“LNG Allies was pleased to hear from Udall, who delivered the keynote address at our inaugural Capitol Hill event,” said Fred H. Hutchison, executive director of LNG Allies, which organized the meeting. “America’s NATO and other allies, especially those in Central and Eastern Europe, desperately want the United States to speed up its LNG export decisions.”
“Currently 100 percent of the natural gas used by Latvia is supplied by Russia,” said Vineta Mekone, the congressional liaison for the Embassy of Latvia in the United States. “A decision on U.S. liquefied natural gas exports would send a clear message that America does promote energy diversification, including to its allies.”
Udall is a strong supporter of responsibly developing Colorado’s clean-burning and job-creating natural gas resources. He has introduced legislation to require the U.S. Department of Energy to make a decision on pending liquefied natural gas export facilities within 45 days of the completion of environmental analysis.
Udall also led a coalition of other senators in pressing the administration to break the logjam of pending export applications and called on the U.S. Department of Energy to approve pending liquefied natural gas terminals just as the agency did for one facility in Oregon.
