Pipelines fuel panelists’ enthusiasm for natural gas
Pipelines, which transport oil and gas 鈥� and ill will 鈥� across great distances, got a lot of love at the Hilton Garden Inn Southpointe on Monday morning.
鈥淧ipelines are the safest and most efficient means of transporting these resources,鈥� state Sen. Camera Bartolotta said in kicking off a panel discussion among national energy and infrastructure experts and elected officials.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e also the least expensive means,鈥� Brigham McCown added.
Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, and McCown were among a foursome who spearheaded 鈥淕rowing the Marcellus Shale: How Safe Pipeline Infrastructure Delivers Energy to Consumers in Pennsylvania and Allies Abroad.鈥�
The program focused on these underground vessels of transmission, which proponents maintain are vital to energy security, but which spark protests from activists, lawsuits, delays and concerns about safe construction of the lines.
There have been safety issues, to be sure, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Yet, the panelists maintain that pipelines have been around for a while, transport oil and gas much cheaper and faster than trucks, trains and ships, and operate safely for the most part. These lines send gas hundreds of miles, to be used domestically or transmitted to ships for use in other nations.
鈥淭wo-thirds of our energy comes through pipelines and that鈥檚 been happening for over 100 years,鈥� said McCown, the first leader of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. 鈥淭here is a risk in everything we do. This is not about absence of risk, but risk management. Blocking pipelines doesn鈥檛 enhance safety, it undermines it.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing fights all over the country on pipelines,鈥� said Craig Stevens, who worked in the Department of Energy during the George W. Bush presidency. 鈥淔rom our side, we always have to be perfect.鈥�
Stevens, McCown and Earl Baker represented Grow America鈥檚 Infrastructure Now at the event. GAIN is a coalition of businesses, trade associations and labor groups, and Bartolotta joined them on the dais for a discussion organized by the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
Baker, an oft-elected public official in eastern Pennsylvania, said natural gas has helped to transform the commonwealth. 鈥淚nstead of thinking of this as a Rust Belt state,鈥� he said, 鈥減eople should think of Pennsylvania as an energy leader in the nation and the world. You have a safe, reliable form of energy that has to be transported.鈥�
Three states 鈥� New York, Maryland and Vermont 鈥� have banned fracking, and natural gas pipelines don鈥檛 serve certain parts of the nation. The panelists lamented these issues.
鈥淲e have a problem if Boston is importing natural gas from Russia,鈥� McCown said.
Stevens said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 stunning there is no new energy infrastructure in New York state. It鈥檚 a real tragedy there.鈥�
Bartolotta, co-chair of the Senate Gas and Oil Caucus, is bullish on natural gas, which is abundant in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in the region. She also is enamored of the possibilities the Shell petrochemical cracker plant, which is being built in Beaver County, brings.
鈥淲e could not only be the Energy Capital of the East,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut the Petrochemical Capital.鈥�