A U.S. House subcommittee has determined a date and time to discuss the current state of the federal “pause” on permits for new LNG production facilities.

Experts on both sides have remained vocal about the pause since January when the Biden administration ordered the DOE to cease issuing permits allowing producers to sell LNG to non-free trade agreement countries to better determine the energy source’s environmental impacts.

Scheduled for Dec. 4 at 2:30 p.m. EST, a Department of Energy (DOE) official is expected to testify at the hearing that LNG exports increase gas prices and are, in some cases, worse for the environment than coal, Politico’s E&E Daily reported Dec. 2. Politico attributed the report to an anonymous source.

But those in favor of ending the pause remain critical.

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s decision to pause new LNG exports harms our energy production and security. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has repeatedly called on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Department of Energy to provide full transparency about its decision to ban new LNG exports,” said Pat Fallon (R-Texas) sub-committee chairman. “However, Biden-Harris Administration officials may have obstructed the investigation and hid critical information from Congress and the American people.”

The House Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs will host the hearing, which will be livestreamed online at https://oversight.house.gov/. The session is titled “Exposing the Truth on LNG: How the Administration Played Politics with America’s Energy Future.”

An environmental impact study on LNG is expected to be released by the Biden administration before the end of the year.

President-elect Donald Trump made ending the pause part of his campaign platform.

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