Jan. 21—State Rep. Brooks Landgraf says the Biden administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have delayed the reopening of the big Freeport LNG Development export plant to keep natural gas prices artificially low through the winter.

With the price at $3.25 Thursday, less than a third of the $9.85 that gas brought last Aug. 22, there is no other conclusion to be drawn, Landgraf said Wednesday.

The Odessa Republican said Freeport LNG, the nation's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas to Europe, was ready to resume full operations last mid-November after a summer and early fall of repairing damages from a June 8 fire that caused no fatalities.

But just as full operations were about to kick off, the FERC dropped a list of 64 additional demands that kept Freeport LNG shuttered till the initial start-up was begun Jan. 14 on the Texas Gulf Coast.

A full resumption isn't expected until March when the plant will again start liquefying two billion cubic feet of gas per day and shipping it to Europe, which has suffered greatly from the loss of Russian gas.

Asked if the plant was kept closed to hold gas prices down, Landgraf said, "I can only look at the actions that have been taken.

"But looking at the picture being painted, it's reasonable to assume that this is the case."

As chairman of the Texas House Environmental Regulation Committee, Landgraf said from Austin that he had been disappointed but not surprised to see FERC behave in such a blatantly political manner.

"I've seen it time and time again, the federal government doing everything it can to curtail the exploitation of our natural resources," he said. "So this is another front in the Biden administration's war against fossil fuels."

However, Landgraf is relieved to see Freeport LNG finally reach the threshold of a complete resumption. "I expect full operations in February or March, realistically March," he said.

"On thing remains clear. LNG is part of the equation to meet the energy needs of the modern world. The world needs energy from oil and natural gas to function and we must continue to invest in the Permian Basin and continue producing oil and gas.

"When I was growing up in Odessa, America was dependent on the Middle East and energy independence was a pipedream," said Landgraf, an attorney. "Now the Basin is the secret weapon not only for Texas but the nation."

Calling the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's practices a much better example of good regulation than FERC's, he said, "When you talk about fueling the world and maintaining safety for workers, it's possible to do both.

"Sometimes problems need to be addressed with a scalpel rather than a machete and regulators should be cognizant of that. FERC has a specific job to do and anytime a regulatory body like that gets sidelined with a political agenda, it can lead to bad policy outcomes.

"In the best case scenario, their lack of communication and transparency caused unnecessary delays. In the worst case, they have displayed a unbridled political agenda."

The FERC did not respond to a recent request from the Odessa American for an explanation of the Freeport LNG's extended shutdown.