This op-ed by John Schneller appeared in the Union Leader on October 9, 2025
CANDIDATES running to represent New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District — where winters are dangerously cold, summers excessively hot and monthly energy prices skyrocket ever higher — have an important commitment to make: Will energy be at the center of their legislative platform?
Energy is not just another commodity; it is the ultimate consumer product. When the price of eggs, meat, or vegetables goes up, it hurts. But energy cost increases are more dangerous, more far-reaching, and more resistant to conventional inflation controls. Fiscal restraint may help tame inflation in general, but energy is a different beast. It requires targeted structural intervention.
Natural gas is a clear near-term solution to New England’s energy challenges. Nuclear remains essential for the long term, but in the near term, natural gas provides a reliable, affordable, and cleaner-burning alternative to coal and oil. Yet politics, not engineering, economics, or safety, have distorted its availability and price in our region.
Pipeline expansion has been blocked by governors and state officials in other states, leaving New England at the end of a constrained and expensive supply chain. In winter, we’ve had to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from overseas, even from adversarial nations, while abundant American gas sits stranded.
One of the most direct solutions lies in fixing a market-distorting federal barrier: the Jones Act. This federal legislation was originally enacted for national defense and shipbuilding protectionist purposes and requires that all goods transported between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-crewed vessels. Virtually no Jones Act–compliant LNG carriers exist today, which means that we cannot ship our American natural gas from the Gulf Coast to New England, even when supply is urgently needed and available.
The Jones Act is no longer a national security issue but rather a national liability with a material, negative impact on both New Hampshire users and our exceptional domestic natural gas producers.
I call on all CD1 candidates to support a narrowly tailored exemption to the Jones Act for natural gas shipments needed for Granite State citizen safety. This exemption would allow LNG to be shipped between U.S. ports on non-Jones Act vessels to smooth present market dysfunction. The exemption would increase domestic energy resilience for New Hampshire and New England. This simple exemption would reduce our dependence on foreign LNG imports and restore some balance to energy pricing and supply in our region.
This basic exemption to dated, market-distorting federal legislation is not about undermining shipbuilding or defense policy. It is about ensuring that families in New Hampshire don’t have to choose between heating their homes and paying their bills. It is about using the resources we already have, safely, efficiently, and responsibly.
I call on all CD1 candidates: Will they support this common-sense fix? Will they put their fellow Granite Staters, who rely on affordable and available energy, before politics? The people of New Hampshire are listening, watching and will be voting.