Trump's appointment delay stalls US$50b of energy investment projects

Washington

BY THE time Midwesterners fire up their furnaces this autumn, the US$2 billion Nexus pipeline is supposed to be pumping natural gas to heat homes from frosty Ohio to frostier Ontario. But six months out, the 410-kilometre pipeline exists only on paper.

Until President Donald Trump fills key vacancies at an energy regulator, Nexus and other sprawling energy projects are in limbo, unable to secure permits to begin construction. For Nexus developers DTE Energy Co and Spectra Energy Partners, each week that passes threatens the project's ability to meet winter demands.

Nexus is just part of at least US$50 billion worth of ventures slowed or stalled while the agency that approves them, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, awaits presidential appointments. For the first time in FERC's 40-year-history, the agency doesn't have enough commissioners for a quorum to vote on project applications. At least a half-dozen pipelines valued at US$12 billion face imminent delays, while projects valued at US$38 billion are slogging through an approval process that's slow in the best of times. An additional US$25 billion of propose…