Two related bills passed on July 19 by the US House of Representatives have more importance to the oil and gas industry in the future than at present. They're important because, if they become law, they'll restrain presidents inclined to stifle industry work.
One of the bills, HR 2883, eliminates the presidential permit now required for border crossings by oil and gas pipelines between the US and Canada or Mexico. It was this requirement that former President Barack Obama used to first delay and eventually reject the Keystone XL Pipeline between Alberta and the US Gulf Coast.
Stonewalling Keystone XL
In stark contravention of US and Canadian interests, not to mention environmental findings of his own administration, Obama stonewalled Keystone XL to appease environmental extremists. His mistake raised the political risk of US energy investment and ripened pipelines as targets for activists opposed to production and use of fossil energy, regardless of the damage to employment, economies, and national security.
The Committee on Energy and Commerce made this motivation clear in its report on the legislation. "The committee is concerned by the inconsistent, ad hoc manner in which presidential permit authority has been exercised among the agencies to which it has been delegated by executive order," it said. "This issue came into particular focus in the context of the State Department's review of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, which originally applied for a presidential permit in 2008 and did not receive approval until 2017"-after Obama left office.
Introduced on June 12 by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), HR 2883 addresses the irresponsibility of pandering to myopic obstructionists not only by pruning executive power but also by setting deadlines. It requires the new permitting authority for pipeline border crossings, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to act on applications within 120 days of the completion of environmental reviews. It also requires FERC to handle applications for the import or export of natural gas to or from Mexico or Canada within 30 days.
The other bill, HR 2910, also attempts to prevent Executive Branch foot-dragging on important energy projects. Introduced on June 15 by Bill Flores (R-Tex.), it pursues FERC action on applications for gas pipelines within 90 days of the commission's completion of environmental reviews. The process now takes much longer.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT) designates FERC as the lead agency among many federal and state offices involved in pipeline environmental assessments and authorizations. FERC requires other agencies to submit application reviews within 90 days of publication of its final environmental document. But the Energy Committee cites a December 2012 study by the INGAA Foundation showing that since enactment of EPACT permitting reforms, "the occurrence of federal authorization delays exceeding 90 days has risen from 8% to 28%, while delays exceeding 180 days have risen from 3% to 20%." HR 2910 streamlines pipeline permitting by strengthening FERC's lead-agency role, increasing coordination among agencies, requiring concurrent action, and specifying procedures.
Prompt action
The bills were reported out of the Rules Committee on July 18 and passed by the full house the following day. The prompt action is laudable. After the Senate's latest failure to act on health-care reform, Republican congressional leaders feel pressure to deliver on at least one of the legislative promises their party made in last year's general election. The House easily could have become too busy on something like tax reform to act on anything else. When broad issues like medical insurance and taxes fill news reports, the intricacies of pipeline authorization tend to fall from notice.
Maybe public distraction will help HR 2883 and HR 2910 dodge opposition and eventually become law. That outcome would deny activists at least a few administrative opportunities to discourage oil and gas production by delaying pipelines to death. Dormant now under a president who favors work, the corrosive strategy will return if political conditions change. The House deserves credit for working to make it extinct.
