The orders will help energy infrastructures to avoid delays caused by agencies and accelerate energy infrastructure approvals.
U.S. President Donald Trump has recently signed a pair of executive orders seeking to make it easier for companies to build oil and gas pipelines and to avoid potential intervention from state agencies. A move that apparently gives the federal government more power in the approval of energy projects reportedly drew immediate criticism from some state officials and environmental activists.
According to The Washington Post, President Trump, during a visit to a union training center, said that it has been observed that in many cases energy infrastructures are being held back by entrenched bureaucracies, special-interest groups and radical activists. However, the two executive orders that will be signed today will fix this issue, dramatically accelerating energy infrastructure approvals.
Commenting on Trump’s move, critics said that the President’s orders on pipelines would trample on authority allocated to the States under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act and other congressional legislation.
Sources cite that Trump’s executive orders are a response to the oil & gas industry, which has objected that pipeline delays have decelerated production expansion. For Instance, shale gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus formation has been unable to reach market in New England, while TransCanada has been unable to convince the NPSC (Nebraska Public Service Commission) or federal courts to permit the Keystone XL pipeline project’s completion, which would transport low-quality crude oil produced in Canada’s tar sands region.
In response to rising energy prices over the past several months, Trump has also called on OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), the oil alliance led by Saudi Arabia, to help reduce the price of oil in the U.S.
Reports claim that the oil prices have risen due to a variety of factors including conflicts in Libya, sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, and the inability of U.S. energy companies to deliver their huge supply to the country’s customers.
However, it is still unclear if the executive order will have its intended effect.
