Time to upgrade U.S. energy infrastructure

It’s no secret that America’s infrastructure is in need of a tune-up. While this debate understandably focuses on traditional projects from roads to bridges to ports, we must acknowledge the same sense of urgency and purpose for expanding pipelines to ensure communities across the country can take full advantage of the U.S. shale revolution.

Our new age of natural gas abundance has upended the global energy paradigm and provided a golden opportunity for American businesses and consumers. Innovative technologies that can quickly and efficiently access vast quantities of natural gas have transformed our nation’s energy prospects, allowing us to deliver affordable and clean energy for power generation, manufacturing growth and even export. But making the most of this moment requires connecting abundance to opportunity.

{mosads}And that’s where national and local leaders need to step in and help the public understand what’s at stake, and how the vast majority of consumers can benefit from the free flow of this American energy resource.

Fortunately, energy infrastructure needs are gaining attention: today the Senate Energy Committee has a hearing on 22 bills focused on infrastructure; yesterday the House Energy and Power Subcommittee addressed the pipeline permitting process at the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC); and the Department of Energy is conducting stakeholder meetings on its Quadrennial Energy Review infrastructure report.

Here at ANGA, we are hosting a discussion with labor, industry and congressional leaders on ways to move forward with the needed infrastructure. We hope this attention results in growing momentum and bipartisan support for constructive action.

Creating a policy environment that encourages and advances needed pipeline infrastructure projects can help deliver significant and broad economic benefits. Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, calls domestic energy development “the single biggest contributing factor for job growth in the U.S. construction industry today.”

For example, the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline from West Virginia, through Virginia to North Carolina is projected to deliver more than $456 million annually to the region’s economy, supporting nearly 3,000 jobs from 2014 to 2019. Attesting to the economic ripple effect, Dura-Bond Industries of Steelton, Pa., also recently secured the largest single order in its history to produce steel pipes for this 550 mile infrastructure project.  They’re now planning to add a second shift at the mill and hire 150 new workers to get the job done.

In New England, expanded pipeline is urgently needed to meet peak demand for heating and electricity during winter. The region enjoys close proximity to the vast natural gas supplies in the Marcellus and Utica shales, but a lack of adequate infrastructure keeps the opportunities offered by this plentiful, affordable energy at bay. Years of local opposition to a broad array of energy infrastructure projects—natural gas, offshore wind, nuclear or otherwise—has exacerbated the problem, leaving the region with the highest electricity prices in the nation. The tide may be turning with New England governors joining forces to make clear the importance of expediting a regional solution to the pipeline infrastructure gap. 

Pipelines are funded by private capital investment, and that investment is encouraged by sound policies. The good news: $82 billion worth of projects are in development, from announced to under construction, with the expectation that they will be in service between 2015 and 2021.  Most of this expansion will target the Northeast and/or emerging industrial corridors where ready access to low-cost natural gas is transforming the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing. 

Innovations also are making our infrastructure more nimble. For example, roughly one third of natural gas pipeline capacity in the Northeast is expected to be bidirectional by 2017, allowing adequate supplies to flow north in cold winter months—and south to fuel expanding clean power generation and industrial expansion. 

Without question, the shale gas revolution is transforming our nation’s economic, environmental and energy security prospects. To maximize this opportunity, U.S. pipeline infrastructure must keep pace with the scope and scale of our country’s natural gas abundance. The opportunity is now for all stakeholders – the public, policymakers and industry – to help deliver on the full promise and potential of world class energy infrastructure for communities across our nation.

Marty Durbin, president and CEO of America’s Natural Gas Alliance