From Watts Up With That?

By Karen Harbert

Today we are facing an unprecedented opportunity to shape America’s economic future. We can reshore American manufacturing, take the lead on an AI revolution and establish a foundation for the most robust and secure economy our nation has ever seen – but we have to be able to fuel that future. We must leverage America’s core competitive advantage – our vast domestic energy supplies – and commit to building essential energy infrastructure to meet this substantive demand growth.

Factions that stand in the way of new energy infrastructure don’t have their facts straight. It is a false narrative to argue that new investments in pipes and transmission will impose prohibitive costs on customers. Simply put, building new infrastructure will keep energy affordable and reliable, which is what families and businesses expect and deserve; but we must move past the dysfunctional permitting system that is standing in our way.

In 1930, we built the Empire State Building in 410 days. Today, the permitting process to build such a project would take years, maybe even decades, and impose insurmountable costs.

How did we get to this self-inflicted impasse?  American infrastructure suffers from a byzantine permitting process that imposes unnecessary and detrimental delays and a legal system that bogs down challenges to new projects for years in court. Recently, both Congress and the Supreme Court have had to step in to greenlight badly needed infrastructure. Until we implement real permitting reform at every level, we are our own worst enemy.

The key to unlocking the opportunities of Americas economic future in the long term relies on our ability to expand pipeline and storage infrastructure without getting tied up  in endless litigation and duplicative environmental reviews. Smart and modern regulation at the state and local level coupled with federal permitting reform can make infrastructure expansion not only achievable, but affordable for all Americans.

As the President and CEO of America’s largest natural gas trade association, I can proudly say that our industry is already working with regulators and policy makers to help ensure customers and communities get the affordable and reliable natural gas they want and expect.

There is good news – America has an abundant supply of energy – with more than 100 years of domestic natural gas – and an energy industry eager to invest to underpin this economic revolution while maintaining reliability and affordability. And for those who caution about the environmental impact of increasing energy consumption there is more good news: none of this need to come at the expense of reducing emissions. In fact, it is quite the opposite – the natural gas industry has reduced emissions by 70% since 1990 while delivering more natural gas to a growing customer base every year.

The consequences of not reforming this cumbersome permitting process are borne by working class Americans. In regions of our country where government policies have prevented investment in new pipeline infrastructure, families are paying higher utility rates compared to their neighbors. Much of New England relies on natural gas imports rather than available gas from as little as 100 miles away and at a price that can be between two and five times what other Americans face. That defies common sense and practicality.

Facts matter in this debate, and the fact is natural gas is the most affordable source of energy in the United States and is expected to remain significantly more affordable than other fuel for at least the next 30 years. As a result, the industry adds one new customer every minute of every day and 21,000 businesses to the natural gas system each year.

Without question, access to natural gas makes a massive difference for household budgets. An average family saves $1,132 in annual energy bills compared to its all-electric home. The data clearly shows this advantage for natural gas is heightened in colder regions. Overcoming current infrastructure bottlenecks to expand our state-of-the-art infrastructure to our communities and engines of growth offer huge payoff for our economy and for families alike.

From state regulators to federal legislators, it is of the utmost importance that policymakers act boldly to allow the American energy industry to build, innovate and expand. Congress must pass meaningful and durable permitting reform including limiting the ability of unaffected entities from launching baseless legal challenges against any and all projects.

Energy in all forms will benefit from modernizing the arcane permitting process – from renewable energy to geothermal to natural gas – we all stand together to meet our nation’s most critical challenge and strategic opportunity. Failure is not an option unless we fail to change.

Permitting reform will empower the economy and get the heavy hand of bureaucracy out of the way. With Congress, we can drive economic progress for this country, secure affordable energy for homeowners and businesses and win the race for a competitive economic advantage. If we streamline our outdated permitting processes, we can provide a brighter future for American families, safeguard our national security, lower costs for American households and build our economy of the future. Imagine that.

Karen Harbert is CEO of the American Gas Association.

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.