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The Energy Department this week granted its first U.S. liquefied natural gas export permit in months (Bloomberg, subscription)—but the move isn’t the return to LNG shipping that the U.S. and its allies need, the NAM said.

What’s going on: “The U.S. Energy Department granted a five-year license Tuesday to [private equity investor] Wes Edens’ company New Fortress Energy Inc., which is developing the small-scale LNG export plant known as Fast LNG offshore near Altamira, Mexico,” Bloomberg reports. “The approval is key for U.S. LNG export developers to sell LNG globally to countries in Europe [and to] Japan and China.”

• The administration had paused LNG export permits temporarily in January, but a federal court ended the freeze in July. The New Fortress Energy license is the first given since that ruling.
• Last year, the DOE authorized New Fortress Energy to ship LNG to nations that have free trade agreements with the U.S.; this week’s decision allows the business to send gas to countries without such agreements (POLITICO Pro, subscription).

Why it’s important: The new permit does not authorize the company to increase its overall LNG exports, however, and it’s a move that won’t safeguard U.S. energy security or leadership.

• “While manufacturers welcome new LNG approvals, [the DOE]’s decision fails to increase total exports and undermines the agency’s claim that total bans on new permits are needed while conducting environmental reviews,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said on Wednesday. “Applying a slow and selective approval process is misguided and damages U.S. energy leadership and security.”