At first when I read the title I figured it was just more RigZone bullsh*t exaggerating a small bump in the road. But then discovered there many tens of $BILLION truly shovel ready projects that are not pushing forward ASAP because of the NEW administration is not getting its act together in a timely manner. Essential not adding the needed appointees to get final authorizations. A hurdle candidate Trump would critisize President Obama for doing. From
http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/1 ... t_ProjectsTrump Delay Stalls $50 Billion of Energy Investment Projects"Until President Trump fills key vacancies at an energy regulator, Nexus and other sprawling energy projects are in limbo, unable to secure permits to begin construction.
By the time Midwesterners fire up their furnaces this fall, the $2 billion Nexus pipeline is supposed to be pumping natural gas to heat homes from frosty Ohio to frostier Ontario. But six months out, the 255-mile pipeline exists only on paper. Until President Donald Trump fills key vacancies at an energy regulator, Nexus and other sprawling energy projects are in limbo, unable to secure permits to begin construction. For Nexus developers DTE Energy Co. and Spectra Energy Partners LP, each week that passes threatens the project’s ability to meet winter demands.
Nexus is just part of at least $50 billion worth of ventures slowed or stalled while the agency that approves them, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, awaits presidential appointments. For the first time in FERC’s 40-year-history, the agency doesn’t have enough commissioners for a quorum to vote on project applications. At least a half-dozen pipelines valued at
$12 billion face imminent delays, while projects valued at
$38 billion are slogging through an approval process that’s slow in the best of times. An additional
$25 billion of proposed developments just beginning the application process also could be slowed if the situation persists late into the year.
Post-Inauguration Bottleneck - It’s a bottleneck that can be traced to the White House in the hectic days following the inauguration. Trump inherited a commission with three Democrats and two Republican vacancies and decided to shake things up. The president took the chairmanship from Norman Bay, an Obama appointee, and gave it on a temporary basis to Cheryl LaFleur, considered by Republicans to be a friend of the industry.
In February, Bay resigned. That left the commission with just two members, LaFleur and Commissioner Colette Honorable, whose term ends in June -- one shy of the quorum needed to vote on projects.
That meant no approvals for new gas pipelines. No decisions on contested utility mergers. No clearance for new liquid natural gas terminals. Other regulatory agencies that lack enough staff to vote on issues include the Federal Trade Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Export-Import Bank.
Stalled energy projects big and small include the $1 billion, 114-mile PennEast Pipeline, designed to run from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, TransCanada Corp.’s $850 million WB Express, and Chesapeake Utilities Corp.’s $100 million Eastern Shore expansion project, which expected approval in the first half of the year.
Pipeline delays could hit consumers directly by driving up prices for the fuel. “You could see ongoing spikes in prices, in particular New England,” said Michael Kay, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.
Formal nomination is only the beginning of what could be a months-long process. The candidates still have to be confirmed by the Senate after approval from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The chairman of that committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski, said Thursday she would clear time for confirmation hearings as soon as Trump announces nominees.
It’s a political process that’ll take awhile, said Martin Edwards, head of government affairs at the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. “How much time is really unknowable,” he said.
Confirming the last commissioner to join the panel in 2014 took six months.{Given the ultra adversarial mood in DC the process may take much longer then normal if the D's persist in their stalling tactics. But that would be a serious risk to them if we have a harsh winter and a lot of consumers freeze in the dark. LOL}