Burgum exaggerates Biden actions on Nord Stream 2, natural gas exports

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum accused President Joe Biden of wanting the U.S. and its allies to rely on political enemies for their energy needs. 

Burgum spoke May 25 at the North Carolina Republican Party convention in Greensboro, North Carolina. Part of his speech focused on U.S. energy policy. Burgum praised former President Donald Trump’s opposition to Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that carries natural gas from Russia to Germany.

"President Trump shut down Nord Stream 2. He just shut it down. This is a giant pipeline coming from Russia into Europe," Burgum said. "And then, what does Joe Biden do? Immediately gets in and approves, approves it. And then all of a sudden, Western Europe is totally dependent on (Russia)."

"Then (Biden) shuts down our LNG export capacity which would then supply it to our allies," Burgum said, referring to liquid natural gas.

This made us wonder: Did Trump "shut down" the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia? Did Biden then approve it? And did Biden shut down the U.S. liquid natural gas export capacity, leaving western European allies dependent on Russia?

We found that Burgum exaggerated the situation all around.

PolitiFact previously reported on Nord Stream 2, the 750-mile undersea pipeline project that Russia launched in 2015. Kayleigh McEnany, a former press secretary for then-President Donald Trump, said in 2022 that "Trump (placed sanctions on) Russia. President Biden gave them a pipeline." We rated that claim Mostly False.

Trump signed a bill in August 2017 that targeted Russia’s energy and defense sectors with sanctions. Then in 2019, he signed another law authorizing new sanctions on Russia related to Nord Stream 2. 

"Yet these sanctions only delayed, rather than prevented, the pipeline’s completion," said Tom J. Cinq-Mars, an administrative manager at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.

Although sanctions slowed the project — causing a Swiss company involved in the construction to exit the project — a Russian company finished the rest of that work in 2021. 

"It is not accurate to say that Trump ‘shut down’ the pipeline. It got built anyway," Hugh Daigle, a University of Texas at Austin petroleum and geosystems professor. "U.S. presidents don’t have the power to approve or disapprove foreign pipelines like that."

PolitiFact reached out to Rob Lockwood, a Burgum spokesperson, about the governor’s claim. Lockwood didn’t provide evidence that Trump "shut down" the Nord Stream 2 project, but cited news articles about Biden waiving the Trump administration’s sanctions. 

In 2021, the Biden administration lifted sanctions on the company overseeing construction of the pipeline. The move made it easier for Russia to finish the project. However, energy experts Daigle and Cinq-Mars rejected Burgum’s claim that the move equated to approval of the project.

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The pipeline was already 90% finished, media outlets reported at the time. The Biden administration saw an opportunity to repair its relationship with Germany, where leaders had decried U.S. sanctions on the project.

"So the Biden administration worked out a deal with the German government that sanctions would be triggered if the Russians were to use the pipeline as a political weapon," Daigle said. 

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine — and the Biden administration reimposed sanctions on Russia and businessmen overseeing the pipeline. Germany then halted completion of the pipeline and, in September 2022, it was severely damaged in an explosion triggered by an unknown attacker. Intelligence officials have said they suspect pro-Ukrainian actors, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported. 

Nord Stream 2 never became fully operational. Russia has no plans to repair it, Reuters reported last year. 

Asked about Burgum’s claim that Biden allegedly shut down the nation’s ability to export liquified natural gas, Lockwood cited the president’s decision in January to pause federal approval for new U.S. liquefied natural gas projects. 

Biden’s decision in January didn’t shut down the nation’s ability to export natural gas. It only paused the government’s consideration of new natural gas projects. 

The U.S. is home to seven operational LNG terminals and at least five that are expected to come online in coming years, The Associated Press reported. Biden’s move doesn’t affect those projects, but they could delay more than a dozen others that are in various stages of planning, the AP reported.

To Burgum’s suggestion that the move could leave U.S. allies in a lurch, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the Energy Department can allow exceptions for national security needs. 

"Exports are still ongoing," Daigle said. "What he (Biden) did was pause approvals of permits for new export capacity so that more thorough reviews of climate impacts could be done. So while we are stuck with our current export capacity, the U.S. is still exporting plenty of LNG."

Under Biden, the U.S. has become the world’s top exporter of liquified natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Burgum said Biden approved the Nord Stream 2 pipeline after Trump shut it down, and then shut down the nation’s natural gas export capacity.

Trump did not "shut down" construction of Nord Stream 2. Although Trump imposed some sanctions that delayed the project, most of it was ultimately built on Trump’s watch.

Biden did not "approve" Nord Stream 2; the U.S. president doesn’t have that power. However, Biden did change U.S. policy to allow the last 10% to be completed, with safeguards against its hostile use.

As for liquified natural gas, Biden in January did pause the review of some pending LNG projects — but this did not affect currently operational facilities or five that are closing in on completion. Contrary to what Burgum suggested, Biden’s pause didn’t leave American allies reliant on their political enemies for energy.

Burgum takes actions by Trump and Biden but magnifies their importance, leaving a misleading impression. We rate his claim Mostly False.