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Obama proposes $3.5 billion gas pipeline overhaul
Barack Obama proposes $3.5 billion gas pipeline overhaulBut Republicans are skeptical about providing the money.
By Andrew Restuccia and Elana Schor
4/21/15 2:15 PM EDT
Updated 4/21/15 9:59 PM EDT
The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed spending as much as $3.5 billion to replace aging natural gas pipelines nationwide — a move that comes just as POLITICO published a lengthy investigation* of the public safety threat posed by pipelines and the numerous problems plaguing the federal agency that regulates them.
The announcement, included in a 348-page government report examining how to upgrade a vast array of the country’s energy infrastructure, is aimed at addressing the dangers to both public safety and the climate from pipelines that leak or rupture.
But the amount of money the administration is proposing is just a fraction of what it would take to replace the hundreds of thousands of miles of decades-old cast-iron and bare-steel natural gas distribution pipes — the lines that are considered most vulnerable to ruptures. A full replacement would cost $270 billion, the report says. And the whole proposal immediately ran into GOP skepticism.
The report, from a sprawling Energy Department study called the Quadrennial Energy Review, calls for creating a DOE program to offer states financial incentives to replace and repair their aging infrastructure, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions from distribution lines that carry natural gas to homes and businesses. The price tag would be $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion over 10 years.
By Andrew Restuccia and Elana Schor
4/21/15 2:15 PM EDT
Updated 4/21/15 9:59 PM EDT
The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed spending as much as $3.5 billion to replace aging natural gas pipelines nationwide — a move that comes just as POLITICO published a lengthy investigation* of the public safety threat posed by pipelines and the numerous problems plaguing the federal agency that regulates them.
The announcement, included in a 348-page government report examining how to upgrade a vast array of the country’s energy infrastructure, is aimed at addressing the dangers to both public safety and the climate from pipelines that leak or rupture.
But the amount of money the administration is proposing is just a fraction of what it would take to replace the hundreds of thousands of miles of decades-old cast-iron and bare-steel natural gas distribution pipes — the lines that are considered most vulnerable to ruptures. A full replacement would cost $270 billion, the report says. And the whole proposal immediately ran into GOP skepticism.
The report, from a sprawling Energy Department study called the Quadrennial Energy Review, calls for creating a DOE program to offer states financial incentives to replace and repair their aging infrastructure, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions from distribution lines that carry natural gas to homes and businesses. The price tag would be $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion over 10 years.
* See 'Pipelines blow up and people die'.