Consumers Energy Alliance highlights link between pipeline development and lower energy prices
Greater support is needed to ease the building of energy pipelines, both to hold down electricity prices for consumers and to kick-start the U.S. economy, according to the Consumers Energy Alliance (CEA), a national advocacy group with 450,000 members.
“Making sure we meet our long-term energy needs is really vital to the country, and we believe it is going
to create an opportunity for good economic growth and great job growth in the United States,” said David Holt, president of the Houston-based Consumers Energy Alliance, in a recent interview with Daily Energy Insider.
A new administration offers opportunities to instill much-needed consistency with how regulations are applied to developing oil and natural gas pipelines. The delays seen with building the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline is a case in point, Holt said.
Pipeline construction was initially approved after a lengthy regulatory process that included federal and state regulators and hundreds of meetings with local officials, Native American tribes and the community. However, the Obama administration ultimately intervened to halt the project.
“That is really not fair to the public that was engaged with the conversation over the five years. It was not fair to the industry that made investments based on the established regulatory process. And it is not fair to consumers who need pipelines to bring oil and natural gas to markets,” Holt said.
President-elect Donald Trump has said he supports the Dakota Access pipeline project.
In order to educate consumers about the importance of energy infrastructure, the CEA launched the Pipelines for America campaign. The CEA says energy fuels many elements of industry and the U.S. economy and that despite an abundance of natural resources, the nation is not developing the pipelines needed to transport energy safely to the market.
In 2015, U.S. energy production added nearly 2 million jobs to the economy, provided an extra $1,300 to the average consumer and bolstered the competitiveness of American companies, according to a 2016 report by IHS Global Insight.
“If we don’t have pipelines, electricity prices will go up,” Holt said.
Proposed pipeline projects in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire have been blocked, and Holt noted that as a result, consumers in some states in the New England region pay as much as 60 percent more for electricity than the national average.
Higher energy bills put more pressure on cash-strapped small businesses, families and individuals who live on a fixed income or are at or near poverty level, he said.
In 2017, the CEA also will focus its efforts on promoting the need for offshore oil and gas exploration, viewed as critical to domestic energy development.
Alaskan energy development is important to ensuring reasonable energy prices for consumers in the future. The CEA notes a U.S. Geological Survey that states the region contains 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 15 percent of its oil.
“We need to have a more sensible discussion about the arctic and what that means from an energy standpoint and obviously how you can do that safely and responsibly,” Holt said.
In terms of future offshore energy exploration, the Obama administration’s Interior Department recently released its offshore oil and gas leasing program for the next five years with no lease sales scheduled for the offshore arctic or the Atlantic Ocean from 2017 through 2022.
The move to restrict offshore drilling by the administration, comes despite many governors expressing an interest in understanding what opportunities for energy production are available off their shores, Holt said.
Aside from promoting opportunities with oil and gas, CEA is also encouraged about the potential for greater growth of renewable energy sources such as solar.
Solar currently makes up less than 1 percent of all U.S. power generation, but the industry has experienced tremendous growth rates that have exceeded 40 percent a year for the past five years.
A CEA report found a variety of financial incentives offered by the government and utilities for residents who install rooftop solar systems have reduced customers’ net costs to record-low levels. When averaging results of 15 states, a typical residential customer who owns a solar facility receives total incentives that equal 119 percent of the facility’s installed cost, the report said.
“With the states we’re talking to, we are encouraging them to be pro-solar power, to make sure all consumers have the ability to acquire solar, and that we aren’t being unfair to non-solar electric customers,” Holt said.
