The Biden-Harris administration is allegedly covering up an internal study conducted in 2023 that would have rendered its moratorium on natural gas projects unnecessary, according to leaders on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.

The White House and the Department of Energy paused permitting for liquefied natural gas export projects in January—a policy critics said would cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs—to allow time for a federal study on those projects' environmental, economic, and national security impacts. That study, according to federal officials, wouldn't be completed until early 2025, effectively throwing the brakes on dozens of major fossil fuel projects.

According to a letter that Republican leaders on the House Oversight Committee sent to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday, however, there is evidence the Department of Energy already conducted such a study months before announcing the policy. And, the lawmakers added, the agency has sought to stonewall information requests to obtain that study.

The saga is the latest instance of the Biden-Harris administration facing accusations of playing fast and loose with federal rules to push its anti-fossil-fuel agenda. The administration's efforts to phase out gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles, limit fossil fuel leasing, and crack down on traditional power plants, for example, have all faced legal challenges from states and businesses.