“The time is now to end the environmental and economic disaster of natural gas exports,” Snape said. “Exporting natural gas worsens global warming, harms local communities, raises domestic energy prices and benefits only multinational fossil fuel corporations.”
International environmental organizations such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace joined the petition addressed to US President Barack Obama in support of the gas export ban.
US export of natural gas surged dramatically since 1990s reaching 1,6 million cubic feet in 2012, according to the statement.
The Center for Biological Diversity explained American companies predominantly rely on hydraulic fracturing to extract gas, which is a harmful technology that causes environmental and public health problems.
“If the Obama administration’s really serious about addressing the climate crisis, it has to rein in the gluttonous natural gas industry,” Snape added.
On August 3, Obama introduced the Clean Power Plan, which aims to curb US power plant carbon pollution by 32 percent in the next fifteen years. The plan seeks to heavily regulate coal and other fossil fuel plants, seeking to shift the focus on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
In May 2015, Obama said climate change is “an immediate risk” to the US national security and should be addressed as soon as possible.
