West Virginia’s abundance of natural resources is well documented, but our resources are only as valuable as the access provided to them. Our breathtaking landscapes would be devalued without the roads and bridges that bring tourists to these attractions, and our hardworking residents would suffer if employers didn’t have access to hire their talents.
The same is true for our reserves of natural gas. If we as a nation do not provide a predictable path for companies to permit and construct the pipelines necessary for the transport of this resource, our communities miss out on millions of dollars in revenue. This is why I am urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address their current permitting quagmire and commit to a reliable process to meet our nation’s energy demands in a responsible manner.
For those of you who don’t follow FERC, they hold an extremely important position in determining how you, the consumer, receives your energy. Their charge is to regulate the interstate transmission of natural gas, oil, and electricity, including natural gas and hydropower projects. The FERC website clearly outlines their mission and guiding principles, which include due process and transparency, regulatory certainty and timeliness. Unfortunately, the Commission is falling short in each of these areas at the expense of many communities across our country.
The main reason for these delays has been brought on by a February announcement in which FERC decided to reopen its review of how to evaluate natural gas pipeline projects, including “how the Commission determines the need for a project, the exercise of eminent domain and landowner interests, the Commission’s consideration of environmental impacts and improvements.” This bureaucratic navel gazing has led not only to the delay in reviewing new pipeline applications, but the delay in issuing certificates to at least 14 projects being scrutinized under the current system.
This permitting logjam reached a head in April when 25 U.S. Senators, including West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, penned a letter imploring FERC commissioners to not delay projects currently under review any further. Although Commission Chairman Richard Glick assured the senators in May that these projects would proceed through the review process, only 2 of the 14 have been approved to date and experts warn that many others should not expect movement until at least December 2021.
We recently saw the direct consequences of a natural gas pipeline not coming to fruition right here in Lewis County. While we welcomed the Atlantic Coast Pipeline through our region, and the $3.7 million in annual property taxes it brought with it to Lewis County, regulatory and legal challenges forced developer Dominion Energy to shelve it for good last year. In communities like ours, there is no quick remedy to fill the hole left by this announcement as these dollars would be directly invested in our schools, first responders and local infrastructure.
As the climate debate rages across our country, environmentalists and other opposition take these delays and project cancellations at FERC as a resounding win for their cause, which is puzzling considering that the industry delivers the fuel that has helped our country reduce CO2 emissions from the electric generation sector by 32% from 2005-19. A recent study from Columbia University even points to the fact that investing in our natural gas infrastructure could help America reach its net-zero emissions goals more quickly and at a lower cost.
Over the years I’ve learned many lessons as a business owner and legislator, but one of the most important is that before you invest capital into a growth opportunity, you must have a clear line of sight into how you will recoup those dollars and earn a profit. FERC’s current permitting process is anything but clear, or to use the Commission’s terms, transparent or timely.
We must all encourage the Commission to fix their review process, giving companies a clear path to invest in critical energy infrastructure, so West Virginians can continue delivering the resources necessary to responsibly power our nation.
Senator Patrick Martin represents the Twelfth Senatorial District which includes Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, and Clay counties and part of Gilmer County. He serves as the Vice Chairman of the Senate Economic Development Committee.
