WASHINGTON — Before leaving town, the U.S. Senate handed President Donald Trump and the oil industry two long-sought regulatory appointments that could expedite construction of natural gas pipelines nationwide.
Since February, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has lacked a quorum to decide on new projects, frustrating the oil and gas industry, which lobbied Trump and the Senate to fill vacant seats. Just before its August recess, the Senate delivered, approving the nominations of Republicans Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson to serve on the commission, commonly known as FERC.
Energy lobbyists were giddy following the vote, optimistic the commission will quickly act on a backlog of multibillion-dollar gas pipelines proposed in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, the Virginias and North Carolina.
“The long day’s journey into night for energy infrastructure is over,” said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a coalition of energy industries. With FERC’s quorum restored, “It will be time to get back to work!” he added.
Property rights advocates and some environmental organizations were less gleeful, fearful that Chatterjee and Powelson will rubber-stamp new pipelines with little regard to safety or landowner concerns. Chatterjee has served as an energy aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Powerson is a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission, a panel known to be friendly to the oil and gas industry.
“Its unfortunate,” said Lynda Farrell, director of the Pipeline Safety Coalition, a group based in Pennsylvania, where a web of pipelines crisscross the state, with many more proposed. “There’s no representation on the commission that will approach pipeline approvals differently than they have in the past.”
These are boom times for pipeline developers, partly because of the huge volumes of natural gas being fracked from the Marcellus Shale of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Supporters say this fracking could boost production of gas-fired electricity, bringing down prices and allowing utilities to switch from coal to a cleaner-burning fuel.