This year has already presented a whirlwind of challenges as a result of COVID-19, including widespread shutdowns and travel restrictions that have led to a significant drop in demand for natural gas and petroleum products. With potential shifts in national leadership on the horizon, the future of energy and environmental policy remains uncertain. Policymakers should understand the stability, economic investment and promise that energy development and infrastructure projects can bring to our nation in a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Record domestic energy production in recent years, investment in infrastructure, and the rise of American energy exports have helped the U.S. pave the way to an energy self-sufficient future. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that in 2019 the U.S. exported more energy than it imported for the first time since 1952, which has helped better position the U.S. to achieve our foreign policy goals while also allowing our allies around the globe to reduce reliance on unstable states like Iran, Russia and Venezuela for energy resources.
Texas has continued to serve as a stronghold for U.S. energy production. According to the EIA, Texas is the top producer of both crude oil and natural gas, accounting for 41% of the nation’s crude oil production and 25% of its marketed natural gas production in 2019. The Texas energy market is a valuable asset to the American economy, global energy market and our national security, and the Permian Basin is playing a critical role.
The Permian houses more than 7,000 oil fields in West Texas and accounts for nearly 40% of all oil production and 15% of natural gas production in the U.S., according to the Texas Railroad Commission. Given its strategic location in a state on the the Gulf Coast, the Permian has been a key driver in the rise of American energy exports. But while energy companies have invested significant resources into growing the crude oil pipeline network in the region, natural gas infrastructure, on the other hand, has lagged behind in recent years.
Fortunately, developers have recognized the need, and a number of state-of-the-art projects have either been announced or are under construction to accommodate and safely transport natural gas to the Gulf and other consumer markets. Infrastructure projects like the Lone Star Express Pipeline expansion, Permian Highway Pipeline and Whistler Pipeline are designed to play a critical role in moving Permian natural gas and natural gas liquids to consumers.
As the American economy continues to rebound from the pandemic-induced economic downtown, it is important that we have the infrastructure in place to streamline that process and ensure reliable, affordable access to domestically produced energy resources.
Despite the need for such projects, and the forward-leaning focus on ensuring energy access in a post-COVID-19 economy, pipeline development has continued to face a series of bureaucratic hurdles and legal challenges from anti-fossil fuel entities. Rather than recognizing the environmental and economic benefits of natural gas and the role of pipelines as the safest, most efficient method of energy transport, some activists instead have focused on the need to increase our reliance on renewables while immediately cutting off access to traditional energy sources like natural gas and oil. These types of efforts are incredibly shortsighted, given how other options such as wind and solar, which provide for only 9% of American electricity needs according to the EIA, are insufficient at this time.
The best way to ensure our nation’s energy future and stability is by fostering a regulatory environment that is conducive to large-scale infrastructure investment. Whether that is solar and wind farms, hydropower dams, or oil and gas pipelines, it is paramount that American policymakers and regulators provide regulatory certitude and consistency and a straightforward permitting and approval process that relies on scientific review and fact.
In order to remain a top energy exporter, which bolsters American national security and our economy, the U.S. must continue to encourage investment in our critical infrastructure network. Policymakers cannot sink pipeline projects after offering them no chance to swim, especially without considering all of the ramifications at stake.
Read it from DallasNews – Photo as posted on Dallas News (Andy Sansom walks on his property where a proposed new natural gas pipeline would pass through his ranch near Stonewall, Aug. 2, 2019. A proposed pipeline is a 430-mile, $2 billion natural gas expressway that pipeline company Kinder Morgan has mapped from the West Texas oil patch to Houston.(Eric Gay))
