On Nov. 9, 2016, America woke up (or some of us never slept) to a new world. While most of the focus and watercooler talk was around the presidential race, the general public seems to have forgotten that it also elected the 115th Congress.
To say the 115th Congress got off to a quick start in early January is an understatement. But even with Congress in place, Washington is still in a constant transition mode with the new Trump administration starting to take shape. By the time you read this, most, if not all, of President Donald Trump’s cabinet will have confirmation hearings and a number will likely be confirmed by the Senate. But cabinet positions are not the only changes. With the transition, some 4,000 political positions in the administration will be filled with new people.
Wasting no time, the 115th Congress has already started to advance its agenda. Congress received a mandate from the general electorate to put America back to work, with a specific emphasis on the oil and gas sector. For midstream operators, we can expect regulatory relief and an administration that wants to revamp and repower America.
The Senate has sworn in seven new senators, five Democrats and two Republicans. With these new Senators, the Senate will have 52 Republicans, 46 Democrats and two independents who will caucus with the Democrats.
The House has 52 new members, 27 Republicans and 25 Democrats, for a total of 241 Republicans and 194 Democrats in the House.
Although Republicans control both chambers, swift passage of legislation is not a sure thing. This close majority means that a potential handful of members, from either party, can control whether Congress’ or the new Trump administration’s priorities advance.
We have seen early signs of this with Congress’ decision to look into Russia’s possible interference in our elections. A majority of Senate Democrats supported going forward with this and a small number of Republicans broke off in support as well.
A Republican majority doesn’t guarantee that they will all vote the same way and, with such a close margin, a few key swing vote members will be the deciding votes on tough issues.
While there will be many issues in front of this Congress that impact our sector, a few that GPA Midstream Association is closely tracking include the Bureau of Land Management’s venting and flaring rule, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule on methane emissions from new and modified sources, EPA’s Waters of the United States, EPA’s ground level ozone standards and the Clean Power Plan.
One thing is for certain: Both Congress and the Trump administration will push to increase development on public lands and push for infrastructure development.
How Congress will address these issues is another story. As the old saying goes, if you like sausages and laws, then you should never watch either being made. This Congress has a number of options to address these regulations. Congress can roll back some of the more recent regulations using the Congressional Review Act. On others, Congress can try to defund the rules through the appropriations or budget process.
If Congress is working in tandem with the Trump administration and Congress exhausts its options, the Trump administration also has several options of its own. More specifically, the Trump administration can reverse executive orders, change strategies in ongoing litigation, or rewrite or refocus regulations. Congress and the Trump administration could also take a wholesale approach and attempt to amend or rewrite specific energy and/or environmental laws.
Regardless of the details, it’s clear that for the midstream industry, we have significant opportunities with the new Congress and the Trump administration to reduce the unnecessary regulatory burdens on our industry and strengthen our sector.
Matthew Hite is vice president of government affairs for the GPA Midstream Association.
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