A growing public outcry from their constituents against mid-winter price spikes may be necessary to convince some public officials that supporting natural gas pipeline construction is in their own best interests, speakers agreed at a May 14 Infrastructure Week discussion hosted by America’s Natural Gas Alliance.
“At some point, the general populace will say, ‘This is stupid, and you’re taking money out of our pockets,’” said Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, in reference to many New England residents’ gas bills jumping dramatically in early 2014 because the region’s pipeline capacity has not been able to expand in response to rising demand.
McGarvey’s observation came a day after Maine Gov. Maine Gov. Paul R. LePage (R) told a US House subcommittee that New England’s gas prices jumped from $3/MMbtu to nearly $20/MMbtu during the Polar Vortex cold snap “despite the fact that the most prolific gas production on the planet is less than a day’s drive away.” (OGJ Online, May 14, 2015).
“Obviously, we need to get more officials comfortable with moving gas infrastructure projects forward,” observed ANGA Pres. Martin J. Durbin. “We need to be nimble and help more people understand we’ve moved from energy scarcity to abundance, and need to build out infrastructure to take advantage of this unusual opportunity.”
‘Resistant to facts’
Others attending the discussion agreed. Diane Leopold, president of Dominion Energy, which is constructing the Cove Point LNG export terminal in Lusby, Md., and has proposed building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to reach Virginia and North Carolina customers, said, “There’s so much need for what we do, and so much opportunity.”
She said, “There also are challenges, such as making our projects safer and keeping their environmental impacts minimal. There are others I don’t, such as strident opposition that is intense, rooted in passion, and resistant to facts. We in the gas industry need to counter the misinformation, and make people understand the facts.”
Marie Jordan, senior vice-president, gas operations, at National Grid PLC’s Northeastern US gas and electric transmission and utility units, said, “I like fact-based discussions. I’m the one trying to operate a system that’s capacity-constrained. We need to help people understand the magnitude of what happens when the infrastructure isn’t there.”
New England spent $5 billion on electricity during the Polar Vortex because its gas-fired power plants couldn’t get enough firm supplies, Jordan noted. Kinder Morgan Inc. and Spectra Energy each have projects under way to address this problem, she said. “Our increased gas-fired generation has reduced sulfur dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions. Our challenge is to help people get off oil and onto cleaner natural gas.”
Leopold said, “Many government policies we need already are in place. Their regulatory framework provides a transparent process that allows public comment. But we have found it essential to continuously communicate with stakeholders ourselves. For Cove Point, we did it early and often in the biggest outreach in [parent Dominion Resources Inc.’s] 100-year history. Our opponents became annoyed because we spoke to residents and landowners so often.”
For its Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Leopold said Dominion is trying to be sensitive to legitimate concerns and address them; and make clear that the project is needed and will provide significant benefits not just in engineering and construction jobs, but also in lower costs for gas consumers.
Rallying supporters
“The opposition is targeting permitting throughout the process,” Leopold said. “It’s using social media effectively to appear larger than it really is. It’s important for us to rally our supporters, who outnumber our opponents. Increased reliability comes from increased infrastructure.”
McGarvey said, “We’re engaged with groups who won’t compromise. They’re passionate, but they’re off the mark. When you look at the cost in dollars and blood this country has paid to protect its strategic interests around the world, I’d rather help the men and women who complete their service and give them jobs which use skills they’ve developed as they return to civilian life.”
Communication will be essential for the necessary New England gas pipelines to be built, McGarvey said. “People in Philadelphia, where I grew up, are so stoked that the next generation of jobs there will be in energy. Policymakers there see it’s a tremendous opportunity. Their counterparts farther north need to be convinced to put that pipe in the ground to stoke New England’s economy.”
Energy infrastructure issues are attracting wide bipartisan support in the 114th Congress, two US House committee staff members told the ANGA gathering. “We’ve spent a lot of time educating members and the public about the benefits beyond exploration and production,” said Brendon Mooney, from the Energy and Commerce Committee. “We’re looking at ways to bring stakeholders to the table earlier, and more often.”
Kate Sinclair MacGregor, from the National Resources Committee’s Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, meanwhile said, “It’s important to make people recognize how important it is to build infrastructure out. This is a new energy era. It’s very exciting, and it’s bringing more members to the table.”
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
