Underground Construction - October 2022 - 10

WASHINGTONWATCH
For interstate pipelines, what was important about the Inflation
Reduction Act was not just what was in the bill - the new methane
fee - but what was not in the bill. Initially insisting pipeline
permitting reforms be part of the bill, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.
Va.) relented under pressure from Democrats, who promised
they would support a separate permitting reform bill before the
end of the year.
Democratic leaders, Manchin said, had " committed to advancing
a suite of commonsense permitting reforms this fall that
will ensure all energy infrastructure, from transmission to pipelines
and export facilities, can be efficiently and responsibly built. "
According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
(D-N.Y.), the agreement on $369 billion in climate spending
included commitments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) and the White House to attempt to include the provision
in a separate stopgap funding bill Congress will need to pass
in September to sustain government operations. The key word
in Schumer's statement is " attempt. "
Manchin never published details of what provisions he wanted
to see in a permitting bill, and none have been published as of
late August. But very recent history does not bode well for the
kinds of changes the pipeline industry has been pushing for years.
Every Democrat in the Senate, except Manchin, opposed a
bill in August that would have negated a Biden administration
rule, in February, changing a Trump administration rule on the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
NEPA lays out steps federal agencies, such as the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), must take before
signing off on an environmental impact statement and approving
a pipeline project. The Trump rule made a number
of pipeline-friendly changes to NEPA. Biden reversed those
in a final rule.
In early August, the Senate approved a resolution canceling
the Biden rule sponsored by Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan
by a vote of 50-47, again with all Democrats except Manchin
opposed. But this so-called Congressional Review Act resolution
must be passed by the House and signed by President
Biden before it can have the force of law. There is no chance
of either happening.
The only bi-partisan support for permitting reforms has been
the Federal Permitting Improvement Act, which Congress ultimately
enacted into law as Title 41 of the Fixing America's
Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. That was signed by former
President Obama in December 2015 nearly seven years ago.
10 OCTOBER 2022 | UCONonline.com
Stephen Barlas | Washington, D.C. Editor
Pending Legislation Easing Regulatory
Roadblocks for Pipelines?
Known as FAST-41, the bill created the Federal Permitting
Improvement Steering Council, which brings together agencies
at the start of the permitting process for some of the largest
projects. That legislation did very little to speed approval of
pipeline applications at FERC.
A follow-on bill, called the Federal Permitting Reform and
Jobs Act (S. 2324), was introduced in the summer of 2021 by
two Democrats and two Republicans, including Manchin and
Sullivan. It would have made some ostensible improvements to
the 2015 bill. It has gone nowhere.
Environmentalists and Democratic state attorney generals
are still stymying pipeline applications on a regular basis.
Most recently, for example, the attorneys general of California,
Washington and Oregon filed a motion of protest with FERC
aimed to prevent a capacity expansion for the Gas Transmission
Northwest Express (GTN) pipeline.
This project would expand the amount of natural gas transmitted
via the 1,377-mile-long pipeline running from British
Columbia to Malin, Ore., just north of the California state line,
by 150 million cubic feet per day. According to the AGs, it
would have significant impacts on climate change.
New Methane Fee Could Hit Pipelines Hard
Numerous interstate pipeline companies have facilities which
emit enough methane - in some cases much more than enough
- in order to get hit by the new methane fee contained in the
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) President Biden signed in
August. The new methane program could impose a fee on facilities
that emit 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(CO2e) or more per year, starting at $900 per metric ton in
2024 and increasing to $1,500 per metric ton by 2026.
The IRA's Methane Emission Reduction Program
builds on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)
existing Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP).
Approximately 8,000 petroleum and natural gas facilities are
required to report their annual emissions under the GHGRP.
Natural Gas Pipeline Co., jointly owned by Kinder Morgan
Inc. and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P., lists facilities
in numerous states with significant emissions in 2020: 188,636
metric tons in Iowa, 145,287 in Illinois, 106,758 in Texas. El
Paso has an Arizona facility with 139,723 metric tons. Other
big numbers come from ANR: 77,270 in Indiana and 67, 531 in
Kansas. Columbia Gas has an Ohio facility with 132,775 tons.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the meth
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