Energy Secretary Supports Infrastructure Expansion
While the production of oil and natural gas in the United States continues to set records that are broken again shortly thereafter, the development of our infrastructure capacity to get these resources to market has not kept pace. We have it within our grasp to extend the benefits of domestic energy production to millions of Americans, to stimulate economies and to create jobs across the country. Yet widespread opposition to critical pipeline infrastructure has slowed this down in recent years. Thankfully, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry is fighting to expand this important aspect of the energy industry.
Secretary Perry is pushing to expand and modernize our pipeline infrastructure, which woefully lags behind the massive increase in production we’ve seen since 2010. In fact, last year the United States produced 3.2 billion barrels of oil, more than a 50 percent increase over the last seven years. We’ve utilized our own natural resources to become a major player on the international energy production stage, and it’s important that we don’t let insufficient transportation capacity slow down these tremendous, widespread gains.
“There’s simply no way our existing infrastructure can handle this surge in the supply over the long haul,” Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said. “We must build more, and we must maintain and upgrade our existing infrastructure.”
Fortunately, Secretary Perry has asked the National Petroleum Council to conduct a study of U.S. energy infrastructure, which should prove highly informative in underscoring gaps in our energy grid.
Improving and expanding our pipeline infrastructure is one of the most important issues facing energy production today. There are a number of great projects already underway, and a number that are slowly moving through the permitting process. The GAIN Coalition is glad to see support for our energy infrastructure from Secretary Perry, and we hope to see this translate into much needed improvements to, and growth of, our nation’s pipeline infrastructure.