Congress, rather than the president, would once again have the final say over federal permits for cross-border energy pipelines if legislation introduced on Dec. 8 by U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) and his Republican colleagues is enacted.
“It’s time for Congress to step up and take back its powers from the Executive Branch,” Rep. Balderson said on Wednesday.
Specifically, the Protecting International Pipelines for Energy Security (PIPES) Act, H.R. 6173, which is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), would prohibit the president from revoking presidential permits related to cross-border energy facilities, according to the congressional record bill summary. Rep. Balderson is one of 12 original Republican cosponsors of H.R. 6173 along with U.S. Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH), John Moolenaar (R-MI), and John Joyce (R-PA).
“Pipeline shutdowns have dire consequences for our economy and jeopardize American energy security,” said Rep. Balderson. “This bill takes an important step toward reining in executive overreach related to pipeline permits and ensures that such sweeping policy changes are debated and approved by Congress.”
Introduction of H.R. 6173 follows press reports in November that the Biden administration was gathering data on the impacts of shutting down the Enbridge Line 5, a major oil pipeline in the Enbridge Lakehead System to convey petroleum from western Canada to eastern Canada via the Great Lakes states. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking a federal permit that terminated construction of the U.S.-Canada Keystone XL Pipeline.
Rep. Balderson and 12 of his congressional colleagues sent a Nov. 4 letter to Biden expressing “deep concerns” about the consequences of shutting down the Enbridge Line 5, which they called “essential to the lifeblood of the Midwest.”
However, the White House said that Biden is not considering a shutdown of Line 5 after Canada in October invoked a 1977 treaty with the United States to trigger bilateral negotiations over the pipeline, which remains at the center of a long-running environmental dispute between Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge and the state of Michigan.