Art Wager/E+ via Getty Images Chevron (NYSE:CVX) CEO Mike Wirth ripped the Biden administration Tuesday for its \"attacks on the natural gas\" industry and decision to halt new export licenses for liquefied natural gas, which he said will raise energy costs, threaten supplies for U.S. allies, and increase emissions by slowing the transition from coal to gas. \"When it comes to advancing economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection, an LNG permitting pause fails on all three,\" Wirth told the GasTech conference in Houston. \"The administration should stop the attacks on natural gas and embrace the benefits it is already delivering around the world.\" Wirth said the Biden policy makes no sense because natural gas replaces more heavily polluting coal in power generation in many cases; citing data from McKinsey, he said the emissions the U.S. avoids by switching to gas from coal are more than double the reductions from all the wind and solar power added in the past 15 years. Switching from coal to gas also will be vital for the development of artificial intelligence, an advance Wirth said \"will depend not only on the design labs of Silicon Valley, but also on the gas fields of the Permian Basin.\" \"The case for natural gas is so strong that only politics can get in the way,\" Wirth said. \"Energy producers need a stable, predictable policy environment, to ensure natural gas remains a reliable source now and in the future, but the administration's LNG permitting pause elevates politics over progress.\" Other executives weighed in at Gastech with similar remarks, including ConocoPhillips (COP) CEO Ryan Lance, who said the administration should end \"this crazy LNG pause\" and allow the U.S. to lead the liquefied natural gas industry. \"We do not have a cohesive, collective decision on how policy should be rolled out and also the sustainability of that policy for sustainable energy development,\" Baker Hughes (BKR) CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said. A federal judge in July lifted the moratorium on approving applications to export LNG after several states sued, but the Department of Energy is appealing the ruling. ETFs: (XLE), (XOP), (VDE), (OIH), (XES), (IEZ)