The House of Representatives plans to take up H.R. 1900, the “Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act” tomorrow. Authored by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), the bipartisan legislation “aims to expedite the federal review process for natural gas pipeline permit applications.” Like the “North American Energy Infrastructure Act,” a bill that targeted cross-border pipelines and transmission lines, H.R. 1900 would streamline the permitting process for natural gas pipelines, putting in place commonsense deadlines and guidelines to remove the regulatory limbo where many projects find themselves.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from February 2013, found that the many stages and steps of the permitting process, that often vary from state to state, can quickly bog down projects. The GAO explains that “for those projects that were approved from January 2010 to January 2012, the average time from pre-filing to certification was 558 days…” As natural gas exploration booms around the country, moving that natural resource from one point to another is a crucial component to the growth and sustainability of the industry.
From a consumer perspective, expediting the pipeline approval process means greater availability of an increasingly abundant and relatively low-cost energy source. To understand what greater pipeline capacity could mean for consumers, look no further than New England, where many suffer from high energy prices, especially in the winter, as the Boston Globe reports:
The projects come as New England struggles to address growing demand for natural gas and supply constraints created by tight pipeline capacity. Those constraints have led to shortages and price spikes during the peak demand periods, such as extended winter cold snaps, helping to drive the region’s already high energy costs even higher.
Over the last decade, the amount of electricity in the region produced by natural gas has risen from about 15 percent to more than 50 percent, said Gordon van Welie, head of ISO New England, the region’s grid operator. In Massachusetts, natural gas accounts for 67 percent of the state’s electricity generation, and is also used to heat half the state’s homes.
“Some days there just isn’t spare gas to be sold,” van Welie said.
Additional pipeline capacity, van Welie added, would help alleviate the issue and could also lead to lower energy costs in New England …
As NTU wrote regarding the aforementioned “North American Energy Infrastructure Act,” when it comes to giant infrastructure projects such as natural gas pipelines, “the planning, personnel, and capital all depend on a transparent, predictable, and consistent regulatory environment.” By smoothing the regulatory hurdles and creating an environment of certainty for investors, H.R. 1900 would give consumers increased access to low-cost energy options and spur job-growth in an essential sector of our economy. NTU urges all Representatives to vote “Yes” on H.R. 1900.