The development of shale plays is leading to a manufacturing renaissance, but there is still more work to be done, especially related to infrastructure build-up, according to industry participants. In order to further this development, the American Shale & Manufacturing Partnership (ASMP) was created to bring together a diverse group of organizations and industries focusing on increasing the development of shales along with the American manufacturing supply chain and workforce development.

The ASMP’s charter members will hold a series of national-level discussion series while seeking to identify what policies should be considered to help bring manufacturing back to the U.S. If the ASMP’s first press conference in Washington, D.C., was any indication this series should be very interesting as it led to a discussion between leadership from the manufacturing, petrochemical, oil and gas sectors, and a member of Congress.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), co-chair of the Congressional Manufacturing Caucus, attended the event and asked membership how Congress could help these industries achieve their goals and sustain their global lead in shale production and continue to take advantage of these to the benefit of the domestic economy.

After several members of the partnership mentioned that it would be beneficial for “government to get out of the way,” Ryan said. “What can we do to help streamline these processes? If it’s a bipartisan issue, what can we do to begin a process to solve this problem and get bipartisan support?”

Karen Harbert, president and chief executive of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, added that much of this infrastructure is unnecessarily delayed in getting built due to overbearing regulation and approval processes.

“There are huge opportunities in many industries, but we can’t get a lot of things built right now because we need a 21st century permitting process in this country to get infrastructure built. Capital will go elsewhere if we don’t get things built. Congress has looked at this, but we really need to hold the regulators and permitting agencies accountable for a reasonable timeframe. When it takes five-and-a-half years to get a pipeline permit in the U.S. and it takes five-and-a-half weeks in another country, that’s a ‘not open for business’ sign,” she said.

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