Why New England can't receive American LNG shipments
Published: Oct 28, 2022
Reason magazine has an interesting article out on government actions to prevent Jones Act waivers. The article cites the Cato Institute which obtained internal government emails that highlight the role cronyism plays in driving up natural gas prices.
As I mentioned in this blog post about the local New Hampshire electricity hike of 112%:
Because of the archaic Jones Act, we can’t ship U.S.-produced LNG (liquified natural gas) from American ports to our terminals.
This Doomberg substack article has a good summary of the problem:
A key stipulation of the law is that foreign-owned ships cannot transport goods between two US ports – only ships built, owned, and crewed by Americans are permitted to do so. While the US has become the largest producer of natural gas and an ever-larger exporter of LNG, the country does not produce LNG carriers. Since there are no US LNG carriers, New England cannot benefit from the build-out of LNG export facilities along the Gulf of Mexico, despite having significant LNG import facilities like the one in Everett, Massachusetts.
That means New England is in the same bidding pool as Europe and Asia. Amazingly . . . Instead of simply building pipelines to its land neighbors, New England pays for boats to sail more than 2,000 miles – burning fossil fuels and polluting the oceans as they do so – and pays a substantially higher price for the privilege. Bonkers!
Related #
New England Governors Seek Jones Act Relief as Spike in Winter Heating Bills Looms