By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Feb. 27�Stanley Horton, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America chairman, Tuesday said regulators should work with pipelines to ensure capacity is built to serve growing demand in some parts of the nation.
Horton, chairman and CEO of Enron Gas Transportation Services Co., said the interstate pipeline industry is working to ensure that consumers have adequate supplies.
He said pipelines continue to meet opposition from groups resisting the construction of additional facilities, particularly in California and the Northeast, both of which have looming capacity shortages due to sharp growth in consumer demand for gas.
"As 95% of all new electric generation will be fueled by natural gas, there clearly is a growing market for us to serve," Horton said. "Nationally, we must spend $2.5 billion/year on the pipeline facilities that will help us meet this demand."
Horton said INGAA is working with the Bush Administration to improve administrative procedures that will streamline the pipeline construction process, such as the interagency Memorandum of Understanding and access to public lands.
He said INGAA also is concerned that a pipeline safety bill recently passed by the Senate potentially would reduce system reliability and capacity.
Horton said the bill contains restrictive language requiring a 5-year inspection timetable, when pipeline industry research shows that a more efficient and effective timetable would be 15 years.
