Streamline Pipeline Permitting
Issuance of pipeline construction permits should be routine and expeditious. In many highly populated areas of the country, consumers and businesses alike suffer high and volatile energy costs during peak demand periods. This is not due to lack of energy supplies. It is because there is insufficient pipeline capacity to deliver those supplies to areas of greatest need. A major cause is delay in permitting new pipeline construction.
Projects including Keystone XL, Constitution Pipeline in New York, Atlantic Coast Pipeline in WV, VA and NC, and Mountain Valley Pipeline in WV and VA have been impeded by opposition-driven permit challenges.
Some states are abusing the Clean Water Act's Section 401 permitting process to deny permits based on objections having nothing to do with water quality, contrary to the intent of the law.
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