Move would offer US natural gas producers an alternative to congested pipelines

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The US’s rich supply of natural gas may soon be transported by train, enabling energy shippers to sidestep congested pipelines in parts of the country. The federal government intends to allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be loaded on to rail tank cars and moved across the nation’s railway network, with the deadline for public comments on the proposal set for Monday. The US became the world’s largest gas producer after fracking revived old shale fields. But opponents have slowed new pipelines in the north-east. In the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, oil producers are flaring 750m cubic feet a day of associated gas partly in the face of pipeline bottlenecks, according to Rystad Energy, a consultancy. Condensing gas into a liquid and carrying it by train is a potential alternative, executives say. The technology has been used in Japan for almost two decades. Less efficient than pipelines, trains are nonetheless potentially a more versatile way to ship modest volumes. “It’s an interesting idea, especially in some areas where there are pipeline constraints and challenges in getting gas to market,” said Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for LNG, a trade group that supports the US Department of Transportation’s proposal. The government last month issued its first special permit to a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy to load tank cars with LNG in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale and haul them 200 miles south to a New Jersey river port. There, LNG would be put on vessels bound for destinations including gas-fired power plants in the Caribbean region. New Fortress is led by Wes Edens, the billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Fortress Investment Group, a private equity business owned by Japan’s SoftBank. The company plans to liquefy and ship about 300m cu ft/d of gas, a fraction of Pennsylvania’s production of 19bn cu ft/d. “This special permit is a significant milestone that establishes requirements for moving domestic LNG in a safe and efficient manner. It supports our efforts to bring cleaner and more affordable energy to markets that are reliant on oil-based fuels,” New Fortress said. Trains were first used to haul oil during the Pennsylvania oil boom of the 1860s. Crude oil returned to the rails about a decade ago, as rising shale output strained oil pipelines. President Donald Trump requested a national LNG-by-rail policy from the transportation department in an executive order he issued last year on energy infrastructure. It is consistent with the administration’s other moves to facilitate fossil fuel production and trade.

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Trump on NEPA Reform (in his own words)

https://www.masterresource.org/trump-donald/trump-nepa-reform/