U.S. Gas Exports Clear Hurdle

The WSJ reports today on a new Energy Information Administration study finding that natural gas exports could benefit the U.S. economy. In a recent Hamilton Project paper, Michael Levi proposes assessing the merits of allowing natural gas exports along six dimensions: macroeconomic (including output, jobs, and balance of trade), distributional, oil security, climate change, foreign and trade policy, and local environment. In doing so, he finds that the likely benefits of allowing exports outweigh the costs of constraining them, assuming the appropriate environmental protections are in place.