The Washington-based 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.
“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,” said IECA President Paul N. Cicio in a press statement. “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.”
Cicio said 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 US consumers,” he said.
“Insufficient pipeline capacity is already a problem regionally and pipelines are getting more difficult to build and are taking longer to place into service,” he concluded.
The Industrial Energy Consumers of America is a nonprofit organization promoting the interests of manufacturing companies. The availability, use, and cost of energy, power, or feedstock play a significant role in those companies' ability to compete worldwide.
