American Gas Association Shares Industry Priorities with Incoming Trump Administration and 119th Congress
WASHINGTON – American Gas Association President and CEO Karen Harbert and Board Chair Lloyd Yates today shared an open letter with President-elect Trump, his administration and Members of the 119th Congress outlining five important steps our industry can collaborate on to unleash America’s full energy potential, drive the economy and jobs of the future and protect our national security.
“Our letter is a roadmap for maximizing the benefits from our nation’s abundant and essential domestic energy for each and every American,” said AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert. “America needs simple, commonsense reforms to protect our citizens’ access to affordable and reliable energy and make America competitive and secure. We look forward to working with President-elect Trump, the incoming administration and the 119th Congress to advance these critical priorities.”
These steps are:
- Economic Competitiveness. Affordable and reliable natural gas underpins the United States economy and our future competitiveness. If we are serious about building the economy of the future, we need a robust energy portfolio that includes natural gas to provide energy for American families and to enable the industries of the future. Removing barriers for strategic investments in America’s energy future will fuel innovation and ensure our energy revolution continues far into the future.
- Affordability and Consumer Choice. We must advance policies that safeguard consumer choice in America’s homes and businesses and expand the economic benefits energy enables for communities across the country. Efforts to ban natural gas, our infrastructure and appliances through policy and regulations are misguided at best. Federal legislative or executive action is needed to further protect natural gas, a vital source of energy that is three times more affordable than electricity to heat our citizens’ homes.
- Safety and Security. Safety and security have been and will remain our top priorities. America’s 2.8 million miles of natural gas pipelines warrant the passage of reasonable and effective pipeline safety reauthorization. As cyber-attacks increase on America’s critical infrastructure, we need cybersecurity regulations that are risk-based and outcome-driven. Both must also embrace the use of new and advanced technologies and refrain from prescriptive measures. Additionally, as physical attacks on our system and employees are becoming more prevalent, federal action to penalize perpetrators is warranted.
- Permitting Reform. American infrastructure suffers from a byzantine permitting process that imposes unnecessary and detrimental delays and a legal system that bogs down challenges to new projects for years in court. Congress must pass meaningful and durable permitting reform including judicial reforms for natural gas and all energy projects to deliver the energy capacity our nation needs. This much-needed reform will drive economic progress for this country, homeowners and businesses alike, and help ensure Americans have access to the reliable energy they want, need and expect.
- National Security. The lynchpin to our way of life is our national security, and the national security dividend of not having to import natural gas from countries that don’t share our values or interests is incalculable. To keep our global adversaries at bay, natural gas is the critical piece of the puzzle to advance America’s interests while safeguarding our allies abroad. We must restart the LNG export permitting process to support our allies and to provide greater global stability as we secure America’s homeland.
Read the full letter signed by Harbert and AGA Board Chair Lloyd Yates here.