WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today applauded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approving Dominion’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project at Cove Point, Maryland.

The approval comes after a call from Murkowski in June for FERC to move ahead with its consideration of Dominion’s application for a license to export LNG from its Maryland facility.

“The economic and energy security benefits of exporting LNG to our friends and allies are irrefutable,” Murkowski said. “Today’s decision by FERC is another step in the right direction and I hope the Department of Energy will quickly follow suit and issue a final license for Cove Point to begin exporting LNG.”

Murkowski urged Department of Energy (DOE) officials in June to continue issuing conditional licenses until proposed changes to its application process were finalized, and then to quickly issue final licenses to projects that had already been through environmental review by FERC.

In the months following Murkowski’s call for action, DOE issued a conditional license to Oregon LNG at the end of July and finalized the changes to its application process on Aug. 15. Earlier this month, LNG export projects in Louisiana and Oregon were issued final licenses allowing export of up to 1.7 billion cubic feet and 40 millioncubic feet of LNG a day, respectively.

Cove Point was licensed as an LNG import facility in 1972. DOE granted the project a conditional license in 2013. When completed, the export terminal will be the first on the East Coast.

Murkowski is the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Last year she published a white paper entitled, The Narrowing Window: America’s Opportunity to Join the Global Gas Trade, which is available on the energy panel’s website.

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