Give FERC Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline Capacity Reliability Oversight Authority

Natural gas export volumes decrease available pipeline capacity for domestic consumers

Today, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA) sent a letter to Congress asking them to take bipartisan action in 2020 to give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) natural gas pipeline capacity reliability oversight authority. Both natural gas and electricity reliability is at stake.

Paul N. Cicio, President of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America made the following statement.

“Unlike the electricity market where Congress granted the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) nationwide market reliability oversight, there is no federal agency with natural gas pipeline capacity reliability oversight. It is vital to know that there is sufficient natural gas pipeline capacity to serve increasing domestic and export demand, especially at peak winter and summer demand, and with consideration to aging pipelines and replacement.”

“There is LESS available pipeline capacity for domestic consumers than what is thought. Export volumes decrease available pipeline capacity for the domestic market because the exported natural gas is going offshore to supply other countries, not U.S. consumers. Exporters have locked up long-term pipeline capacity contracts, capacity that is now no longer available to domestic consumers for years to come.”

“Insufficient pipeline capacity is already a problem regionally and pipelines are getting more difficult to build and are taking longer to place into service.”