Pipeline and power-sector lobbyists pushed Congress Thursday to speed up permitting for energy infrastructure projects built in the U.S.
President Trump is expected to make permitting reform a key piece of his infrastructure investment plan to be announced in the coming weeks.
“What investors need is certainty and predictability,” said Don Santa, president and CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, in testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “What we have now is multiple permits that are required. The process can be coordinated more without violating statutes intended to protect the environment.”
A White House official told the Washington Examiner that one of the “three principles” of Trump’s infrastructure proposal will be to reduce the “burdensome permitting process from an average of 10 years to two,” an initiative that would please the energy industry, advocates said Thursday.
“Citing and permitting reform is important,” said Philip Moeller, an executive vice president at the Edison Electric Institute, the top lobbying group for the utility industry, in testimony before the Senate energy committee.
Moeller said acquiring land and permits for new transmission lines has become increasingly difficult.
“You and FERC can make a number of decisions that would reduce the uncertainty,” he said, referring to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the government body that overseas wholesale power markets and reviews interstate pipelines.
Santa and Moeller’s concerns are consistent with others energy industry leaders.
Jack Gerard, the CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group representing the oil and natural gas industry, has called for Congress and the administration to improve predictability in permitting, which he said would encourage private investment in energy infrastructure.
Santa on Thursday advocated for enhancements of the country’s pipeline network to carry natural gas, and emphasized the need for more pipeline capacity to bring Permian Basin product to market.
He also expressed frustration with states such as New York that have resisted approvals of pipeline projects by using a section of the Clean Water Act to deny permits.
“We respect the rights of states to protect the resources within their borders and support the ‘cooperative federalism’ framework upon which many of these environmental statutes are built,” Santa said. “But one state’s abuse of its role in this relationship can affect the ability of other states and their citizens to enjoy the benefits of interstate commerce.”
Democrats and environmentalists fear the Trump administration, backed by the energy industry, wants to weaken environmental laws as part of its push for permitting reform.
A draft White House document leaked to the media recently called for changes in how the government conducts environmental reviews, including significant streamlining of the National Environmental Policy Act’s requirements and potential reforms to the Clean Water and Clean Air acts.
