Should the FERC be the leading agency for interstate pipelines?
Bill Summary
The Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act would amend the Natural Gas Act (NGA) to reinforce the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) role as the lead agency for siting interstate natural gas pipelines. FERC would identify the federal or state agency, local government or Indian tribe that would consider specific aspects of project applications and each would be required to cooperate with the commission. FERC also would establish a schedule for concurrent reviews and impose deadlines for final federal authorization decisions, according to the draft’s text. Sponsor: Rep. Bill Flores [R-TX-17]
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Opponents say
• Terry Turpin, director of FERC’s Office of Energy Projects, contends: “Some of the proposed NGA modifications would alter FERC’s role from one of collaboration with its fellow agencies to an oversight role, monitoring other agency execution of their congressionally mandated duties. I’m concerned that this will require the use of commission resources that could be better spent analyzing the proposed projects and could lead to unproductive tension between the agencies involved in the review process.”
• Rep. Frank Pallone stated: “The draft released on Tuesday night not only failed to address any of the concerns we raised, but actually went so far as to add new sections taken directly from provisions of last year’s Senate energy bill that we had explicitly rejected. And this does not bode well for making this a bipartisan process.”
• Rep. Frank Pallone stated: “The draft released on Tuesday night not only failed to address any of the concerns we raised, but actually went so far as to add new sections taken directly from provisions of last year’s Senate energy bill that we had explicitly rejected. And this does not bode well for making this a bipartisan process.”
Proponents say
• Rep. Bill Flores stated: “America is one of the world’s top oil and gas producers thanks to the shale revolution. Our energy infrastructure and permitting process must be updated to reflect America’s abundance of domestic energy resources. Modernizing the permitting process for the nation’s pipeline infrastructure allows us to efficiently and safely bring those resources to our downstream assets, ultimately to consumers, to power our economy, and to give opportunities to our hard-working American families.”
• Subcommittee Vice Chairman Pete Olson argues: “On pipelines, we need these reforms. We’ve seen time and time and time again that the process takes too long and is way too messy. The better we are at getting infrastructure built, the better our economy is.”
• Subcommittee Vice Chairman Pete Olson argues: “On pipelines, we need these reforms. We’ve seen time and time and time again that the process takes too long and is way too messy. The better we are at getting infrastructure built, the better our economy is.”
