On a day when the Aug. 14 blackout dominated Capitol Hill, a major interstate natural gas pipeline group last Wednesday urged the top energy lawmakers in the Senate and House not to overlook the importance of natural gas as they move to conference on a comprehensive energy bill, particularly its role in producing electricity.

“Clearly, the Northeast/Midwest blackout creates an impetus for Congress moving forward with measures to encourage a more reliable and robust electric transmission infrastructure. Still, these developments do not diminish the importance of the host of other energy policy issues addressed by the comprehensive Senate and House bills that now are pending before the conference committee,” wrote the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) in a letter to Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-LA), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Although “natural gas prices have abated from their early summer peaks, the need for policies that promote additional gas supply and remove obstacles to natural gas infrastructure development remains pressing,” said INGAA President Donald F. Santa Jr.

Moreover, “the linkage between natural gas and electricity is directly relevant to the electric transmission debate” in the wake of the blackout that pulled the plug on up to 50 million people in the Midwest, Northeast and eastern Canada, he noted. “In particular, in some cases, natural gas-fired generation located in close proximity to load may be an economic alternative to new electric transmission infrastructure, especially in areas where it is extraordinarily difficult to site new transmission lines.”

This is but one example of the “inextricable linkages between [the issues] addressed by the pending energy legislation and the value of pressing ahead with a comprehensive approach to enacting an effective national energy policy,” Santa said. “INGAA finds it ironic that some in Congress are suggesting a comprehensive energy bill should be jettisoned in favor of legislation that solely addresses electric transmission reliability.”

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce panel, last week had offered a motion to instruct conferees on the comprehensive energy bill to strip out the electric transmission reliability provisions, and pass them as a separate, stand-alone bill. House Republicans defeated the motion by a vote of 211 to 176 Friday.

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