Donald Trump to Issue Executive Order to Cut Regulations, Ramp Up
Pipeline Construction, by Penny Starr, 4/6/19, Breitbart.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order
next week in response to environmental activists’ ongoing legal efforts to
stymie his administration’s efforts to reduce regulations and ramp up pipeline
construction to allow Americans access to the abundant domestic supply of
natural gas.
“The effort is spurred
by the blockage of the construction of the 125-mile Constitution Pipeline from
Pennsylvania to New York,” CNBC reported. “Officials say the administration’s
broader goal is to lower energy prices by accelerating the transport of natural
gas and to reaffirm U.S. energy ‘dominance,’ a word that appeared multiple
times in an early draft of the order.”
Although
America is a global energy superpower and the United States has been the
world’s top producer of natural gas since 2009, New England relies on imported
LNG from faraway countries for about 20 percent of its natural gas. And as for
propane, another heating fuel, New England would have been left in the cold had
it not been for recent tanker shipments from overseas.
This
is what happens when you don’t build your own natural gas pipelines, which are
the safest and most economical way to transport energy. The trouble is there
isn’t enough pipeline capacity to bring in natural gas from the Marcellus shale
in Pennsylvania to New England in times of high demand. Even as America’s
natural gas production has soared, the pipeline capacity to get it to where
it’s needed hasn’t kept up. The problem: political obstacles driven by
environmental groups.
In
the past two years, regulatory obstacles have led to the cancellation of two
pipeline projects, which is ominous for a region that desperately needs more
natural gas to make up for the shutdown of nuclear and coal plants. Moreover,
there are those in the region who promote themselves as climate leaders but
continually block new gas pipeline capacity.
According
to CNBC, the order will give guidance to the Department of Energy and the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address a portion of the Clean Water
Act, which gives states authority over projects that involve water quality:
A
protracted legal battle over the project has been underway since the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC gave a green light in 2014 and 2016
because the state of New York has refused to issue a water permit.
Backlash
from states and governors is expected, especially in New York, where regulators
warned of further legal action if FERC throws out its water safety review in
the Constitution case.
“We
don’t think this manifestly changes the state of play,” Christine Tezak, an
energy analyst with ClearView, said in the CNBC report. “An executive order
can’t change the statutory discretion of a state to approve, deny or waive, so
a state could still say no.”
“The
executive order is currently slated to be signed on Wednesday, with Texas as
one suggested location for the event,” CNBC reported. “Administration officials
caution the plans could change.”
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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