Published: April 16, 2019 |

President Donald Trump speaks in front of pipeline workers at the International Union of Operating Engineers.
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Pipeline companies appear to have received a gift this week when President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders making it more difficult to block their projects.

Trump signed the orders at the request of business groups and over the objection of environmental organizations.

“Too often, badly needed energy infrastructure is being held back by special interest groups, entrenched bureaucracies and radical activists,” Trump said before signing the orders Wednesday afternoon between fundraisers in south Texas.

One order addresses a requirement that companies receive certification from the state before proceeding with an energy project. Trump’s order calls for the Environmental Protection Agency instead to consult with states, tribes and other stakeholders before issuing new guidance and rules for states on how to comply with the law.

The other order states that the president — instead of the secretary of state — has the authority to issue permits for energy projects that cross international borders.

Both orders address specific challenges that have stalled or blocked planned pipeline projects.

The first would limit the ability of states and tribes to stop such pipeline projects. Trump specifically addressed New York officials, saying “obstruction” by the state “was hurting the country.”

The second order would affect projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, which was designed to carry oil from Canada through Oklahoma and on to the Gulf Coast. President Barack Obama’s administration refused a permit to allow the line to cross the Canadian border, but the Trump administration approved the permit.

The orders likely will have little direct effect on Oklahoma, but they could boost Oklahoma-based companies. Tulsa-based Williams Cos. Inc. recently has been challenged on an effort to complete a pipeline in Pennsylvania, and other companies have projects planned in other states.

In Oklahoma, state laws already generally are favorable to oil and natural production, and the legislature in recent years has taken action to prevent or minimize local and county governments from restricting industry activity.

Still, local oil and natural gas industry groups and leaders praised the actions this week.

Growing oil and natural gas production in Oklahoma — especially in the STACK and SCOOP fields — have led midstream companies to build and plan new pipelines, processing plants and storage facilities.

Many of those projects are designed to move Oklahoma’s oil and natural gas across state lines, often to market along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.

Source: The Oklahoman

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