WASHINGTON – The U.S. House passed legislation on Wednesday to speed the construction of natural gas pipelines by squeezing the federal review and permit process.
The “Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act” requires the government to approve or deny an application for a permit within 12 months of a filing. It would also require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to complete a review of any applications deferred to FERC within 90 days. The legislation was originally introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., in May 2013.
“We are tens of thousands of miles of pipeline short to carry natural gas to people who need it,” Pompeo said. “All we ask the government to do is its job.”
The bill, approved by a 253-169 margin, came up on the floor two weeks after the House voted yet again to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. For the last six years, Congress and the administration have continually debated the application, which was originally filed in 2008 by TransCanada and seeks permission to build a segment of the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Neb.
With the United States surpassing both Russia and Saudi Arabia in natural gas and oil production, House Republicans claim pipeline permit reform is necessary to effectively distribute these resources.
“We may have fixed our supply problems, but now we have a distribution problem,” Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said.
House Republican leaders boasted that the bill drew bipartisan support, however, only 14 Democrats favored it.
“It’s a bunch of common-sense ways to streamline what is right now an archaic process that can languish for a long time,” Nan Swift, federal affairs manager at the National Taxpayers Union, said of the bill in a phone interview. “To let projects stand out in regulatory limbo really stands in the way of progress for investors and consumers to need the access to energy.”
In 2013, the White House threatened a veto of the original Pompeo legislation. House Democrats expressed concerns Wednesday that FERC would needlessly deny applications in an attempt to meet the proposed deadline.
“Why would you move forward on a bill that disrupts a system that works?” asked Rep Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Supporters, however, challenged President Barack Obama to work with the Congress on energy legislation.
“The president has frequently said that he thinks Congress and the White House can work together on infrastructure. Unfortunately, his recent spree of veto threats says otherwise,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Upton said in a joint statement. “But the House will continue to give the president opportunities to make good on his promise to work with Congress.”
The bill must still clear the Senate.
