Ukraine's EU Neighbors See US Gas as Russian Hedge

Boehner and Republicans have been urging the Obama administration to clear the way for more exports to capitalize on America's current natural gas boom. The U.S. Energy Department has approved only six export licenses, while about two dozen remain pending.

In a statement Saturday, Boehner called on Obama to "heed this call from our allies" and "do everything possible to use American energy to reduce the dependency on Russia for our friends in Europe and around the globe."

"I hope President Obama will heed this call from our allies to use his 'pen and phone' to direct the Secretary of Energy to immediately approve pending natural gas export requests and do everything possible to use American energy to reduce the dependency on Russia for our friends in Europe and around the globe."

The White House has argued that Russia's dependence on gas revenues makes it unlikely that the country would cut supplies to Europe despite Russia's worsening conflict with Ukraine over the Crimean peninsula.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that because Europe has had a relatively mild winter, gas supplies are sufficient. He said even if the U.S. did approve more export licenses, it would take until the end of 2015 for gas to be delivered.

"Proposals to try to respond to the situation in Ukraine that are related to our policy on exporting natural gas would not have an immediate effect," Earnest said.

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