Submission of #3 of 3 October 2014 Pre-file documents of docket #CP15-558 for review of cumlulative impacts.

Consumer & Small Business Benefits From Limiting Natural Gas & Oil Exports Testimony of Tyson Slocum, Energy Program Director, Public Citizen, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship July 14, 2015 Twitter @TysonSlocum tslocum@citizen.org (202) 454-5191 Public Citizen Tyson Slocum July 14, 2015 Senate Testimony Chairman Vitter, Ranking Member Shaheen and members of the Committee: thank you for the opportunity to testify today on consumer and small business benefits from limiting natural gas exports. I am Tyson Slocum, and I direct the Energy Program at Public Citizen. Public Citizen is a national consumer advocacy organization with more than 400,000 members and supporters across the country. I also serve on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commissions Energy & Environmental Markets Advisory Committee. Less than a decade ago, natural gas prices were at record highs, and the consensus response was reflected by then-Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, who prominently made the case that the U.S. had to take steps to make Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports easier to permit.1 Fast forward to today, where fracking has resulted in booming domestic natural gas production, fueling calls to make it easier to permit LNG exports. My testimony will address the reasons why promoting natural gas exports is imprudent: Natural gas power sector demand is projected to grow due to market and regulatory factors, a trend at odds with a push to accelerate LNG exports. Allowing already-authorized LNG exports will result in domestic natural gas price increases, harming many small businesses and household consumers. Facilitating natural gas exports forces natural gas price-sensitive industrial customers to compete with foreign markets for US produced gas, undermining their current competitive advantage. Federal statutes appear to be in conflict over whether natural gas should be exported. Legislative proposals designed to expedite LNG exports are misguided. Public Citizen recommends the following four reforms to ensure that benefits to downstream businesses and household consumers are prioritized: 1. The U.S. Department of Commerce shall promulgate rules prohibiting the export of natural gas, exempted only by a Presidential determination that such exports are in the public interest. 2. Natural gas exports can only be in the public interest if: a. Prices for American consumers will not increase. b. There is no interference with non-fossil fuel commercial interests, such as natural gas-intensive industrial customers, commercial fishing or tourism. c. There are no detrimental impacts on public safety, the environment or exacerbation to climate change. 1 www.federalreserve.gov/...