This bill centralizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's exclusive authority over approving or denying applications for U.S. natural gas export and import facilities, deeming such activities automatically in the public interest while preserving Presidential sanctioning power.
August Pfluger
Representative
TX-11
The Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025 centralizes the approval authority for all U.S. natural gas export and import facilities, including LNG terminals, exclusively with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This legislation mandates that FERC must automatically deem such gas trade as being in the public interest during the review process. Furthermore, the Act explicitly preserves the President's existing authority to impose sanctions on gas imports or exports involving designated state sponsors of terrorism.
FERC Gets Exclusive Power Over LNG Terminals: Approvals Now Automatically Deemed 'In the Public Interest'
The “Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025” is short, but it packs a serious punch regarding how the U.S. handles natural gas exports and imports. Essentially, this legislation is a regulatory fast-pass for building and expanding Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, which are massive facilities used to ship natural gas overseas or bring it in.
The FERC Fast Lane: Approvals Guaranteed
Under the existing system, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reviews applications for these facilities, but they have to weigh whether the export or import is actually in the “public interest.” This bill wipes that requirement clean. Section 2 centralizes the approval power exclusively within FERC. More importantly, it mandates that when FERC reviews applications for building or expanding these facilities, they must automatically consider the export or import of natural gas to be in the public interest. Think of it like this: the bill removes the ‘maybe’ from the review process; for LNG infrastructure, the answer on public interest is now always ‘yes’ by default.
What Centralized Power Means for You
This move has two major real-world impacts. First, it streamlines the regulatory process for energy companies, giving them much faster certainty that their multi-billion-dollar projects—like a new LNG terminal along the Gulf Coast—will get the green light. For the energy industry, this is a massive win that cuts down on years of potential delays and regulatory hurdles. Second, by making FERC the exclusive authority and mandating the “public interest” finding, the bill significantly reduces the ability of other federal agencies to veto or slow down a project based on broader concerns, such as climate impact or local environmental risk. While the bill notes it doesn't change other agencies' existing rules unless specifically overridden, giving FERC the final, exclusive say with a pre-approved public interest finding is a major power shift. If you live near a proposed site for one of these terminals, this means the primary gatekeeper (FERC) has been instructed to approve the core purpose of the facility.
The Presidential Backstop
One interesting addition in Section 2 is a new subsection that clarifies the President’s power to impose sanctions remains untouched. This means that even with the streamlined approval process, the President can still prohibit gas imports or exports to foreign individuals, governments, or countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism. This provision is essentially a foreign policy safety net, ensuring that while the regulatory process speeds up for commerce, the U.S. government retains its ability to use gas trade as a tool for national security against hostile actors.