According to recent reports, investing giant Blackstone Group LP is seeking $10 billion to supplement its ambitious infrastructure investment fund. Overall the firm “expects to invest in more than $100 billion on infrastructure projects, principally in the United States.”

Blackstone President Tony James said recently the company’s infrastructure efforts will not be affected by whether the Trump administration enacts its $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

NO these won’t because these have NOTHING TO DO with the infrastructure we NEED-this infrastructure is for the express purpose of transporting oil and natural gas to FOREIGN MARKETS and profits for a select few CEOs and stockholders.

Clearly, private investors see enormous potential in upgrading our nation’s roads, telecommunications systems, energy pipelines, and the many other infrastructure components that facilitate daily life.

Again, the projects they want fast-tracked are roads built in wilderness areas-public lands-national and state parks-telecommunications that will be off limits for the vast majority of people, especially in rural areas of the country, and again pipelines to facilitate the sale of our natural resources to the highest bidders around the world.

With huge sums of capital in the balance, investors, along with private companies on the receiving end of investments, deserve a regulatory environment upon which they can rely.

Yes, there are HUGE sums of money that has been accumulated offshore, tax free, and made possible by the absence of regulations on huge amounts of cash that SHOULD be TAXED but are not. This is also capitol that was accumulated at the expense of the vast majority of the middle class-as the 1%’s taxes are lowered ours are and will be raised to offset the deficits.

Regarding energy pipeline infrastructure in particular, federal, state and local regulations are a critical component of the planning process, providing a framework that ensures these projects are carried out with minimal adverse impact on local communities. At the same time, unnecessary delays — often in the form of frivolous lawsuits, regulatory foot-dragging and even agency staffing shortages — can block construction for years, which means delaying American jobs and energy security. But safety and efficiency aren’t mutually exclusive in the infrastructure permitting process.

The “Foot Dragging” is the community at large opposing these projects. Opposing the Gestapo-like tactics of eminent domain on landowners. That foot dragging is environmental assessments that in reality have become an exercise by the industry to do as little assessment as possible by those who stand to profit when the project is approved. More and more industry has usurped the power of the agencies tasked with PROTECTING everyone from unscrupulous and criminally negligent behavior by corporations and individuals just looking to make a fast profit and then leaving a huge mess for taxpayers to clean up.

Ultimately, government must balance encouraging more public and private infrastructure investment while upholding safety standards. All infrastructure projects need regulation, but in order to ensure that private investment flourishes, our nation’s regulatory agencies must provide more regulatory certainty.

Certainty in this context means a rubber stamp of approval to any and all projects that the industry wants!

To get that certainty, a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Neil Chatterjee has argued that we need to speed up the pipeline permitting process because unnecessary delays drive away investment.

Chatterjee said, “Delays discourage investment in projects. If I were a financial investor or project sponsor, I want predictable cash flows and return, and would be reluctant to put my money toward a project for which there’s no predictable length of time for the regulatory review process.” Extended delays or meritless obstruction can send the wrong signal to an industry that wants to invest.

Making sure that rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater is NOT contaminated by cancer-causing, water fouling chemicals and that public water supplies aren’t polluted is NOT meritless!

Rather, it’s time to cut back rules that unnecessarily encumber energy development. FERC demonstrated this goal in its recent approval of two pipeline projects held up in regulatory limbo, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline, allowing the investors to finally move forward with their plans. The regulatory agency lacked a quorum for six months until two commissioners were confirmed in August, resulting in a significant backlog of applications.

This is another regulatory body that has been taken over by the very industry that it was created to REGULATE! So yeah, be happy that they finally got the last two YES-men to do their bidding!

FERC, which regulates the construction and operation of electricity, natural gas, hydropower and other interstate projects, is like the umpire in this regulatory game. Umpires are responsible for enforcing the rules fairly and making expectations clear to all players. The regulators’ position is that of a fair arbiter, striving to provide the regulatory efficiency that responsible infrastructure investment requires, without sacrificing safety and compliance.

Yes, that WAS the intent of this regulatory body – but this is NOT how it’s turning out to be. The Trump administration wants and seems to be getting closer to having no safeguards, no protections, and again, just approve whatever projects hit their desks!

American citizens win when energy companies bring well-paying jobs to small communities and American energy independence makes oil and natural gas more affordable for everyone.

Small communities DON’T get these jobs and the few that do come to these small communities are short-term with no benefits or job security. Many of the jobs required to do these projects are filled by people from out of state. Here in WV there is once again and influx of out-of-state license plates and lots of workers staying in local hotels for the duration of the projects. Pipelines and compressor stations – once those are built maybe a handful of jobs will be needed to maintain operations and those, again won’t be by local people.

Local economies and city and state governments win when increased energy sales bring higher tax revenues and better funding for community programs and education.

We don’t win!!! Especially we don’t win when corrupt gov’t officials give huge tax breaks and take bribes. A small fraction IF ANY comes back to the community in any level that actually helps the community. Once the job is done, we never see them again! And WHEN  cause it’s always when not if, the cost of cleanup and/or restoration is left to the people of that area. Time and time again we are promised much but none of them are kept.

And yes, the environment wins when we are able to switch to cleaner energy products like natural gas, which has brought our nation’s CO2 emissions to a 30-year low, and to pipeline transportation which has significantly lower carbon footprints than the alternatives.

So this is fairly false-the “30year low” links to a Forbes article touting the billions in profits that are predicted for the energy market in the U.S. and how very important the 70 TRILLION cubic feet of natural gas coming from the Utica shale fields in Appalacia will net producers and stockholders when more than 40 NEW pipeline projects are approved….

There are MANY factors to the lower CO2 levels: More fuel efficient vehicles: the cost of living/traveling, people aren’t going on the roads like they used to, can’t afford it; but these statistics don’t take into account the thousands of trucks carrying water and chemicals to well pads-doesn’t calculate the carbon footprint of the construction of the compressor stations and the loss of forest and grasslands (carbon sinks) to these projects.

In this era of political polarization, this kind of win-win outcome should be the goal for everyone involved. The alternative course of action, which some have called upon FERC to pursue, is to drastically alter the permitting process. This would cause gridlock and significant delays, jeopardizing projects by undermining private companies’ confidence in the system and undermining their willingness to invest billions.

We dont’ GIVE A RAT’S ASS about private company PROFITS! MORE regulations are needed – MORE safeguards put in place – LESS extraction and MORE investment in truly sustainable, renewable and resilient grids for energy production and distribution!

Pipelines are an important investment in our country from which we can all benefit. While safety should remain a top priority, decisionmakers should make the rules of the game more consistent and clear. Enforcing the rules fairly will provide major benefits for all Americans through the development of our domestic energy resources.

NO, only a select FEW are going to benefit! Not the average taxpayer, not the average student, not the majority of us. WE are getting shafted and the more people who realize this in 2018 when we vote out the GOP (Greedy Old Patriarchs) and flip the country back onto the path of transitioning AWAY from carbon-based / combustion energy production. Fossil fuels are finite and we are coming to the end of the supply of these on this planet… and just a reminder we only have ONE home and it’s this one – there is NO PLANET B!

Albert Wynn, a former Democratic member of the U.S House of Representatives representing the 4th district of Maryland, served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He currently acts as a strategic advisor to the Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN) coalition.