The Biden administration on Thursday approved exports of liquefied natural gas from the Alaska LNG project, Trend reports citing Reuters.
The Department of Energy approved Alaska Gasline Development Corp's (AGDC) project to export gas to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement.
Backers of the roughly $39 billion project expect it to be operational by 2030 if it gets all the required permits. The LNG would be exported mainly to countries in Asia.
The Alaska LNG project includes a liquefaction facility on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska and a proposed 807-mile (1,300-km) pipeline to move gas stranded in northern Alaska across the state.
The project, for which exports were first approved by the administration of Donald Trump, has been opposed by environmental groups. The Biden administration undertook an environmental review of the project, concluding it has economic and international security benefits and that opponents had failed to show the exports were not in the "public interest."
The Biden administration modified the previous approval to prohibit venting of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide associated with the project into the atmosphere.