House Members Press Infrastructure Needs for Oil and Gas Export
The North American Energy Infrastructure Act, H.R. 3301 (here), provides the regulatory certainty needed to transport increasingly abundant U.S. energy across the Canadian and Mexican borders, Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., told an Oct. 29 hearing focused on the legislation (here). The legislation would enable the infrastructure construction required to keep pace with an expected continued hike in U.S. oil and natural gas production, said Upton.
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“Under this bill, a 500-mile pipeline or a transmission line carrying new hydro from Canada or solar from Arizona that extends across the Canadian or Mexican border would be subject to the same regulatory scrutiny as a similar project that remained within the boundaries of the U.S., but it would no longer be subject to unlimited additional delays because of the border crossing,” said Upton in opening remarks. The U.S., Canada and Mexico can potentially achieve energy independence by the end of the decade, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., said in an opening statement (here). Both Upton and Whitfield are original co-sponsors of the legislation.
“But energy supply alone is not sufficient to achieve North American energy independence. We must also have in place the energy infrastructure necessary to deliver affordable and reliable energy across our northern and southern borders,” said Whitfield. “This means being able to site and construct oil and gas pipelines and electric transmission lines to carry energy and electrons across the borders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico.” Despite the capacity to export more resources over recent years, in light of increased production, the export process across borders has become more burdensome, said Whitfield.