In today’s increasingly polarized political climate, Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Vice President of Public Affairs Allen Fore identifies “extremism on both sides” as a major obstacle to ongoing midstream infrastructure development. In an industry roundtable on pipeline and terminal expansion projects, Fore also mentioned regulatory uncertainty, federal/state conflict, local or regional opposition, and eminent domain as persistent challenges for companies looking to supply transportation and storage services to upstream and downstream energy markets.
Addressing delegates to the 2017 Energy Summit held recently at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (LMOGA) Chief Counsel Tyler Gray echoed Fore’s comments on extremism, adding that much of the U.S. public is “only hearing one side of the story,” which has given rise to a widening divide between public perceptions and industry realities. One promising way to solve this problem, Gray suggested, is by educating the populace about the everyday items for which the nation depends on safe and efficient midstream infrastructure “without rooting the discussion in partisan politics.”