Enhancing U.S. water infrastructure will boost America's energy security

WASHINGTON, October 10, 2018 – Today the American Petroleum Institute applauded Senate passage of the bipartisan America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, which safely streamlines the permitting process for water infrastructure projects.

“The natural gas and oil industry is focused on the safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible transportation of our products, and this bill will ensure that we are able to continue to deliver those products and provide affordable energy to consumers at home and abroad,” said API Vice President of Midstream and Industry Operations Robin Rorick.

“Maintaining and enhancing our ports and water infrastructure is vital to keeping America’s energy industry competitive in a global marketplace. We appreciate the bipartisan leadership on this issue in the House and Senate and look forward to the president signing this bill into law.”

Over two billion tons of goods moved through the U.S. waterborne transportation system in 2016, valued at over $2 trillion – 40 percent of which was crude and petroleum products, demonstrating how critical water infrastructure is to the American economy.

The bill also includes an API-supported Corps transparency provision which will help the pipeline permitting process. Applicants constructing projects, including pipelines, well sites, and other core energy infrastructure, must determine if their activity will impact Corps-owned real estate, such as flood controls, levees, and dredge material disposal facilities. This provision, based on regulatory reform recommendations to the Corps last year, would create a database to track Corps real estate assets which will provide operators with access to real-time information, reducing the need for public inquiries to the Corps and helping to eliminate potential delays in project construction timelines.

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the natural gas and oil industry, which supports 10.3 million U.S. jobs and nearly 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API’s more than 600 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation’s energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 47 million Americans.