President Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, billionaire Doug Burgum, on Sunday wrote on social media: “A year ago, there was a Biden ban on LNG export facilities. Today, the U.S. is the number one exporter in the WORLD!”
[Note: LNG — Liquefied Natural Gas — is a natural gas (primarily methane) that when cooled turns into a liquid and can be transported in tankers across oceans where pipelines are not feasible. Climate activists warn that new LNG projects “can harm local communities with pollution, lock in global reliance on fossil fuels for decades, and lead to emissions from burning gas and from leaks of the powerful greenhouse gas methane.”]
In January 2024, President Joe Biden paused approvals for pending and future applications to export LNG from new projects and called for the DOE to conduct a review of the economic and environmental impacts of the projects. (Biden did not call for a ban, and existing exports continued.)
Veteran Silicon Valley “cleantech” venture capitalist Craig Lawrence, partner at Energy Transition Ventures, replied to Burgum: “This is silly. There was no ban on LNG export facilities under Biden. There was a pause on permitting new LNG facilities. Which you are certainly free to criticize Biden about. But the US was also the number one exporter of LNG in 2022, 2023, and 2024. While Biden was president.”
This is silly. There was no ban on LNG export facilities under Biden. There was a pause on permitting new LNG facilities. Which you are certainly free to criticize Biden about. But the US was also the number one exporter of LNG in 2022, 2023, and 2024. While Biden was president. https://t.co/suXhU1t5SZ
— Craig Lawrence (@clawrence) February 15, 2026
The Biden administration’s pause affected four pending projects including one owned by Energy Transfer Partners, which is run by billionaire CEO Kelcy Warren, who — according to the Brennan Center — has donated more than $20 million to MAGA Inc., a Trump-supporting Super PAC.
[NOTE: A federal judge halted the Biden administration pause on LNG export approvals in July 2024, ruling that approvals could proceed while the legal challenges played out. President Trump reversed the pause by executive order in Jan 2025, making legal challenges to Biden’s pause moot.]
More than one X user replied to Burgum with accusations (“you’re lying, there was no ban”) and complaints about soaring energy bills during the second Trump administration. As one wrote: “Electricity prices increased 13% in 2025. Natural gas prices went up 30%. 7% of electricity demand is AI data centers. By cutting the green energies/wind and solar you are making Americans pay more.”