As Congress and President Donald Trump turn to 2018, it’s uncertain which big-ticket legislative item they will turn to next. President Trump has promised to unveil his long-awaited infrastructure plan after passing tax reform, but it’s not a sure thing that he will pivot to infrastructure next.

Trump’s infrastructure package, which was once a top priority for his first 100 days in office, fell down the list in 2017 to other legislative initiatives. Republicans may take another shot at trying to repeal and replace Obamacare next, they could try and tackle welfare reform, or they could pivot to several other administration priorities.

Regardless, at some point in 2018, President Trump and Congress will turn to infrastructure.

The Trump infrastructure plan’s supposed price tag is $1 trillion, with $200 billion coming from federal spending and the rest coming from private investment, state or local funding, permitting reform and cuts to other federal programs. One of the key concepts that this plan will incorporate is regulatory reforms to a number of programs.

This will be a prime opportunity for the midstream industry to push for some much needed infrastructure improvements. In July 2017, the GPA Midstream Association sent a letter to the White House Council on Environmental Quality advocating for potential regulatory reforms that could help develop and promote important midstream infrastructure. The letter advocated for improvements and reforms in three specific areas that would eliminate large barriers on midstream infrastructure development.

GPA Midstream has seen firsthand several states whose leadership—let’s just say—resides in the anti-fossil fuel and “keep it in the ground” camps that use a loophole in the Clean Water Act to needlessly delay and/or prevent natural gas projects from being developed.

The first reform the association advocates for is slightly reforming the Clean Water Act to prevent states’ continued exploitation of loopholes in an effort to block gas projects for political reasons.

For instance, New York has denied, or unlawfully delayed, a water quality certification for every new project transporting hydraulically fractured shale gas from Pennsylvania. These practices put parochial politics over the nation’s infrastructure and energy needs.

Legislative reforms could include minor changes clarifying that a state’s time to begin reviewing an application begins upon receipt of an application, instead of a complete application, and confirming that a state’s water quality certificate review is restricted to Environmental Protection Administration-approved water quality standards.

GPA Midstream also believes that the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) recent regulations that replace Onshore Order Nos. 3, 4 and 5 should be rescinded or completely revised. The orders, which date back to 1989, are ambiguous and unnecessary.

Initially, these orders were going to require that all measurement equipment be switched out at measuring stations for updated equipment that would provide the exact same measurement results as the old equipment. So the result of these orders is massive new capital costs—and the federal government gets the exact same measurement results. So, all pain and no gain!

GPA Midstream had successfully secured multiple reforms to these onshore orders prior to them going final during the Obama administration. However, the BLM Onshore Orders are still precisely the type of excessive regulation that calls out for reform.

Another midstream infrastructure reform that GPA Midstream supports is for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to withdraw the Gas Mega Rule. This onerous regulation could potentially impose significant costs and burdens on onshore oil and gas gathering lines. GPA Midstream members own and operate hundreds of thousands of miles of gathering lines, representing more than 90% of all gathering lines in the U.S.

This proposed rule provides little if any benefit to the general public since PHMSA has no actual data indicating that the proposed regulations will lead to any safety benefits for the public. Furthermore, the PHMSA Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee (GPAC), which is currently evaluating this proposed rule, still has no representatives that are specifically gathering line representatives. Gathering line operators have no voice in the GPAC process, which is completely unfair and undemocratic.

GPA Midstream has been advocating for these common sense reforms to be part of the infrastructure package and believes that common sense reforms would help grow the midstream industry.

Matthew Hite is vice president of government affairs for the GPA Midstream Association.

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