Infrastructure

For the last several years, the United States has been the world's top producer of natural gas and oil.  This dramatic expansion in our nation's energy production has rocketed us ahead of perennial top nations like Saudi Arabia and Russia. 

And it takes a massive energy infrastructure, such as pipelines, railroads, highways, waterways and ports, to get that energy to where it is needed.

The United States has the largest network of energy pipelines in the world, with more than 2.4 million miles of pipe that safely delivers energy to its destination 99.99% of the time. 

As expansive as our nation’s infrastructure is, however, America is in need of investment to keep pace with this nation's growing production of natural gas and oil, as well as the demands from consumers. 

This is all good news.  Investing in our nation’s energy infrastructure will not only allow the oil and natural gas industry to keep pace with energy demand, it will also help keep energy affordable for Americans.

And the investment required to build this infrastructure will have positive impacts throughout the U.S. economy, employing many individuals and contributing significantly to Gross Domestic Product. 

According to a 2017 ICF study:


Infrastructure investment will also foster delivery of lower cost energy to households and businesses, and help the upstream and downstream portions of the gas and oil business develop more fully over time.  It will especially benefit those areas of the country which do not have access to America’s newfound abundant energy, such as areas in the Northeast which pay inordinately high energy costs due to lack of energy infrastructure.

The outcome of the how much infrastructure gets built is dependent on regulatory approvals of infrastructure projects.  America’s policymakers should not obstruct critical infrastructure investments which foster the nation’s economic growth and energy security.