We need more of them, and Biden is standing in the way.
We need more of them, and Biden is standing in the way.
N orth Dakota governor Doug Burgum entered the race for the GOP presidential nomination today. He has been extremely popular in his state, boasts a strong conservative policy record, and was a very successful businessman before entering politics.
It’s unlikely that he will end up with the nomination, since most Americans do not know who he is. But now that he’s in the race, one thing he could do that would be beneficial to the country is talk about pipelines. A lot.
The U.S. needs more pipelines. Pipelines are the best way to transport oil, natural gas, and refined petroleum products over long distances, and we don’t have enough of them, which creates all kinds of distortions in our energy markets. Joe Biden, on Day One of his administration, canceled the Keystone XL pipeline that had been a political football since the Obama administration, but there’s more to the anti-pipeline agenda. As Oliver McPherson-Smith wrote for Capital Matters on May 4:
Since President Biden took office, FERC has approved 17 major projects to add 368 miles of pipeline and 4,390 million cubic feet of daily capacity. These numbers pale in comparison to the 73 projects that had been approved by this point in the Trump administration, which added 3,384 miles of pipe and 46,620 million cubic feet of capacity.
To put these numbers into perspective, almost ten times the length of pipelines and their capacity were approved in the same amount of time under the Trump administration. During that period, it took an average of 452 days from filing for FERC’s approval to receiving the green light. Under the current administration the average wait time has reached 517 days. According to the Department of Energy, 2022 was the worst year for pipeline-capacity additions since records began.
Pipelines have been elevated slightly in our political discourse in recent weeks, as a result of Senator Joe Manchin’s (D., W. Va.) talking about the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which the administration has promised to expedite as part of the debt-ceiling negotiations. Having a presidential candidate elevate the issue further would be a good thing.
Burgum is especially well-positioned to talk about pipelines because his state is especially harmed by their absence. Most of the pipeline infrastructure in the United States is centered around the historical home of energy production: Texas and Louisiana. But since the fracking revolution, North Dakota has become an energy powerhouse itself.
Oil from North Dakota is light and sweet, which means it is easy to refine and contains fewer impurities than other types of oil. Despite being very desirable for its chemical properties, North Dakota oil trades at a discount compared to Texas oil because of the lack of transportation infrastructure. More North Dakota oil has to be transported by rail, which is more expensive than transport by pipeline, so to compensate buyers for the difference, North Dakota producers have to charge a lower price.
Burgum knows this better than most politicians, and he should use his campaign to take a pro-pipeline message to the country. It’s a perfect presidential-campaign issue because the incumbent president is standing in the way of lots of pipeline construction.
Candidates who lose can still shape their party’s agenda by getting the winner to adopt their policy positions. While few, if any, Republicans are outright anti-pipeline, many could talk about the issue more. As the Left’s war against fossil fuels threatens to make Americans poorer through higher energy prices, pipelines must be a central part of the Republican agenda.
As governor, Burgum doesn’t have power to approve interstate pipelines, which are a federal concern. But he has been successful at fostering the development of safety technology for pipelines in North Dakota, through the iPIPE program his administration has championed, a partnership between a center at the University of North Dakota and energy companies.
Most of the money for the program comes from the private sector, and the government doesn’t pick which technologies get funded. A committee of representatives from each member company makes those decisions after hearing Shark Tank-style presentations from entrepreneurs. The iPIPE program allows companies to test their technologies on active pipelines and access cash to develop their ideas.
One technology that came out of the partnership uses satellite data to spot leaks; the company behind it launched its own satellite in April. Another technology is a golf-ball-sized device that travels in pipelines and uses sensors to detect corrosion or weakening connections in their walls. Ensuring safety improvements continue will be a key part of expanded pipeline construction, and Burgum has unique credibility to talk about that issue on the national stage.
Doug Burgum is probably not going to be the Republican nominee. But if he can use his campaign to get the nominee to make pipeline approval a priority, he will have done a lot of good for the country.