ANGA: Oil and Gas Production and Distribution Reform Act is ‘Step in the right direction’

The Oil and Gas Production and Distribution Reform Act (S. 1210) is “a step in the right direction toward streamlining permitting while protecting reasonable and sufficient public input in the process,” Erica Bowman, vice president, research and policy analysis, America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), said on May 14.

“ANGA supports S. 1210, introduced by Sen. [Shelley Moore] Capito [(R-W.Va.)] and co-sponsored by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp [(D-N.D.)],” Bowman said during a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on energy infrastructure legislation. “This legislation will help improve coordination between FERC and other permitting agencies involved in federal authorizations for siting interstate natural gas pipelines.”

The hearing is part of a series of legislative hearings regarding a broad energy bill that the committee is assembling. For the hearing, the committee considered 22 bills that address challenges related to energy infrastructure.

“My expectation … is that the best ideas expressed in these bills we are considering will ultimately become provisions of the broader bill that we intend to move later this summer,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said during the hearing.

S. 1210, a bill to provide for the timely consideration of all licenses, permits and approvals required under Federal law with respect to oil and gas production and distribution, was among the 22 bills considered during the hearing.

According to Capito’s office, S. 1210 would improve FERC’s permitting and review process by:

• Commitments and cooperation from all federal and state agencies considering any aspect of an application
• Firm deadlines for coordinating agencies to issue associated permits
• Concurrent reviews where each federal and state agency considering an aspect of an application carries out its obligations concurrently and in conjunction with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review
• Issue identification and resolution to prevent unnecessary delays or permit denials
• Expedited processing to allow an applicant to fund a third party contractor or FERC staff to assist in preparing and reviewing their application
• Accountability, transparency and efficiency by requiring FERC to publish an online regulatory dashboard to track information related to the permit review

Speaking during the hearing on the issue of permitting and siting on federal lands, Bowman said that, one of the largest issues with siting a natural gas pipeline through national park lands is that the project developer needs to go to the U.S. Congress so they can establish the statutory authority with the Secretary of the Department of the Interior for a project corridor.

“That process can take years, and only then can you start the permitting process,” Bowman said.

Bowman applauded the bill’s push for a concurrent review among the federal agencies that are relevant to an application.

“That is very important because it will really help move the decision process along,” she said.

Bowman also noted that the bill establishes an early detector system for issues related to an application.

“That really enables [a developer], especially in this environment, where there is a lot of activism at the state and local levels, to identify issues early and start working on resolutions around those issues with the agencies and greatly improve timelines,” she said.

In her testimony, Bowman said that ANGA also supports the Federal Land Access Act (S. 1196), which was considered by the committee during the hearing. The bill was introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and co-sponsored by Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Shelley Capito.