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clock Created with Sketch. 12/01/17
15:25
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Originally posted by Timbogold
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Positioning ahead of the mother of all MELT UPs methinks ...Trump’s promises on the campaign trail to reduce federal oversight of the energy industry and his fossil fuel friendly cabinet picks suggest we are likely to see a significantly more relaxed regulatory environment for natural gas pipeline projects during his tenure. We think the new administration will be looking to act quickly to make tangible headway on some of their campaign promises, including supporting the build out of infrastructure and cutting back on regulatory overhead. This is a hopeful development for the midstream industry which has been mired in recent years by fierce environmental opposition and cumbersome regulatory approval processes, particularly in the Northeast.Certainly, we view Trump’s election as a positive for the industry, though any move by the Trump administration to relax environmental standards and hasten pipeline approvals could incense the very environmental opposition groups which have delayed pipeline approvals in the past, with the potential for protests to spill off paper and onto the ground, as has been the case for the Dakota Access Pipeline.In our view, Trump will move quickly to appoint a Republican majority on the FERC board. Currently, two of the five seats on the FERC board are unfilled, and we think Trump will act as soon as possible to fill these seats given that both are required to be Republican (the three sitting commissioners are Democrats and no more than three commissioners from one political party are allowed by law). A third seat will open up in any event by mid-2017, when one of the Democrats’ terms expires, but we think at least one of the sitting Democrats is likely to leave the board once the new Republican appointments are made, at which time Trump could appoint a third Republican to create a majority on the board.Trump is also likely to appoint a new Republican Chairman. Overall, we think the Trump administration will act aggressively once in office to appoint individuals who will lead FERC in a more oil and gas friendly direction.
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agree with the your hunch @Timbogold , Trump's camp has probably dropped a few hints to FERC to wait on issuing the NTP so make Maggy the first project to be "approved" under the new regime as oppose to "Obama's last gift"....
