The Only Restriction

FERC Chairman Laura Swett said “the only current restriction on getting American gas is our ability to get the gas to market and the infrastructure bottlenecks.” The commission is proposing an easier regulatory path for pipelines and LNG projects. I read the sentence three times, because “only” is carrying a lot of weight. Two days ago EDF was saying new gas plants are getting slower and more expensive to build because turbines are scarce. A pipeline moves the fuel to a plant, and if the plant can’t get its turbine, the gas is still waiting. A chain has a first weak link, and it’s an easy mistake to name whichever link you regulate.

Same morning, the International Trade Commission found that solar imports from India, Indonesia and Laos injured US manufacturers, which clears the way for duties. What I enjoy about this one, if enjoy is the word, is the geography. Cell production moves to a new country, the petition follows it there, and the duties arrive a year or so later. It has the rhythm of a game where the board keeps getting redrawn, and everyone seems to know it. The manufacturers moving around are presumably not unaware that the duties will find them.

So in one morning the federal government is easing the path for one fuel and taxing the supply chain of another. Each decision may be defensible taken alone. Together they read like a preference, and the preference seems to be written in the same place as the bottlenecks. Somebody picks which constraint counts as the real one.

I’d like to know who in the turbine queue is watching the pipeline news, and whether they’re relieved.