During my years in leadership roles in the U.S. Army, my primary concern was the security and safety of our nation. National security is not solely defined by traditional military threats; it encompasses economic stability, the well-being of our citizens, and the ways in which our own domestic resources impact international relations.

For anyone focused on these core concerns, recent developments surrounding liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports deserve our attention.

Just a few weeks ago, the Department of Energy released a powerful new analysis that shows LNG exports raise costs for American consumers, while often going directly into the hands of our adversaries and accelerating the climate crisis. The analysis should be a clear warning sign for everyone in Washington — especially President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly preparing to approve any and all new LNG projects. The evidence is mounting that we can’t deal with LNG permitting with a rubber stamp, because unfettered LNG exports risk transforming our own gas resources into power for our geopolitical rivals like China.

Trump announced plans to expedite LNG exports through an executive order on the first day of his administration — but this could be disastrous for our country. First, this decision would undermine so much campaign trail rhetoric about lowering the cost of living for American families. The DOE’s recent analysis makes clear that sending more U.S. LNG overseas will significantly raise prices for families at home when they can least afford it. But even beyond that red flag, we’d be paying higher prices at home to subsidize China’s efforts to build power using our own gas.

Americans don’t want to pay higher bills for energy just to help our rivals build power. But a must-read report from the American Security Project — an organization founded by fellow veterans John Kerry and Chuck Hagel – lays out the facts: cheap U.S. LNG is being gobbled up by companies connected with the Chinese Communist Party.

Why? It allows them to control more of the global marketplace, leveraging our resources to build power where they choose. Indeed, our allies in Europe have the energy resources they need — U.S. LNG is now increasingly going elsewhere. China is now the top buyer of LNG around the world, and the U.S. is the leading exporter.

Moreover, ASP finds that buying U.S. LNG exports also allows China to subsidize its own growth of renewable energy, fostering their energy independence thanks to our resources. Meanwhile, we are left paying all the costs at home, from increased pollution in the communities extracting and transporting gas to skyrocketing energy bills.

That’s not what the Big Oil and Gas CEOs pushing these LNG plans want you to hear — but they’ve always put their profits over the best interests of the American people. Their goal is to keep America and the world addicted to fossil fuels — an addiction that accelerates the climate crisis and all its devastating impacts: rising temperatures, harsher and more frequent extreme weather, and resulting instability across the globe. That instability scrambles geopolitics and is already creating conflict that jeopardizes our national security and the safety of people around the globe.

Although the Biden administration’s Department of Energy just concluded an analysis of the information it considers when it comes to approving or denying LNG export proposals, they shouldn’t stop there. There are numerous reasons to reject new LNG exports.

We’ve ignored the costs of LNG exports for too long.

Just recently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revoked authorizations for the Commonwealth and CP2 LNG projects due to underestimations about their pollution, which poses a direct threat to the health of communities near these export terminals. Meanwhile, Americans have already paid $100 billion in higher energy bills because of LNG exports that are fuelling the climate crisis at a rate that scientists found is even more significant than coal. When do we draw the line?

The Biden administration’s actions earlier this year to curb LNG exports and the new DOE analysis are a step in the right direction, reflecting a commitment to truly assess the risks of the runaway LNG buildout — but, the administration must remain vigilant in its remaining days. It is critical that the Biden administration acts to address the economic costs, environmental dangers and national security risks that come with increased LNG production and rejects the pending export permits in front of them.

We simply cannot allow our resources to empower our rivals while we shoulder the burdens. A weaker, sicker and less prosperous country, a climate crisis spiralling out of control, and a more unstable world in exchange for wealthier Big Oil and Gas CEOs? That is a trade no leader should make.

It is time for Washington to take a stand for the health and security of our nation by rejecting harmful LNG export projects and committing to a sustainable energy future that safeguards our communities, economy and environment.

Steve Anderson, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, is a retired logistician, environmental advocate, project manager, business developer and service-disabled military veteran. He is a board member of Vet Voice Foundation, a nonpartisan veterans advocacy organization that represents more than 1.5 million veterans and military families.