November 2024 Vol. 79 No. 11
Editor's Log
Editor's Log: The anticipated return of pipelines
By Robert Carpenter, Editor-in-Chief
(UI) — After one of the most contentious – if not the most contentious – elections I’ve witnessed since my youth (and yes, that has been a long time ago …), the dust is finally beginning to clear from the battlefield, the inevitable blame game for the losing side is slowing waning and a return to some semblance of normalcy across our country’s political landscape is emerging.
The most obvious question for all, no matter if you voted Republican, Democrat or none of the above, is: what happens now in terms of economic health? For the underground infrastructure markets, we’re going to be trying to figure that out over the next few months and will be presenting a variety of information via the magazine, newsletter, podcasts and websites to our readers and listeners with focused articles, unique research and the best expert sources in the business.
For now, I keep reading, seeing and hearing all kinds of wild tales about spending cuts coming from the pending President-Elect Trump administration. Of course, most of that is nonsense. However, spending cuts will be a reality as part of the new presidency. Trump had already named famed business mogul Elon Musk his point person to cut unnecessary federal spending. Musk plans to eliminate $2 trillion in waste from the federal budget. In all fairness, that does probably have a lot of bureaucrats, along with guardians of wasteful spending and bloated subsidies, incredibly nervous about their future.
But for the most part, I suspect necessary spending will go forward, as usual. We’re currently in the middle of our annual research project on the spending plans and trends for sewer, water and stormwater for America’s cities. I expect those results will still be encouraging as the federal funding commitment from the 2021 infrastructure bill is still rolling out the dollars and will do so until well into 2026. The political backing of that bill across party lines was strong so that funding should be secure. Other Infrastructure Bill billions should also remain on course including fiber for rural and underserved suburban markets and electric “hardening.”
But the big winner – politically speaking – for the underground markets has to be the traditional energy industry. The outlook for oil and gas – including pipelines – did a 180-degree turn after Trump’s victory. He has been consistently and very publicly in favor of expanding drilling and construction of needed pipelines since he even considered entering the presidential sweepstakes. Trump’s first term clearly illustrated his approach to reinvigorating the energy market and, in his words, striving to “make America energy independent,” and “drill baby, drill.” In the short term, he succeeded.
At the annual Underground Infrastructure Conference, I’m proud to announce that Underground Infrastructure has partnered with our sister magazine Pipeline & Gas Journal to present an Energy Pipelines Construction & Corrosion program as a principal focus of the conference. Leading pipeline owners and construction companies will be featured as part of the program. Their insights should shed much light on the renewed attention and prospects for pipeline construction.
When President Biden was elected, his policy and efforts to embrace climate change via green initiatives swung the energy pendulum back to the left, and oil and gas markets and pipeline construction in particular have struggled to move forward since Biden took office. Now, the storied pendulum is swinging back to the right. An easing on rules and regulations restricting pipeline construction is anticipated to begin almost immediately upon Trump’s inauguration.
Also, most likely the government will no longer be supporting environmental groups suing to halt proposed pipelines. In fact, the Trump administration is expected to flip the Biden government’s position and start defending and bolstering new pipeline initiatives.
Prior to the election, when I was queried about the prospects for pipeline construction, I summed up prospects as quite simple. Those in the pipeline construction market would either continue down the path of survival and forced diversification; or they would be celebrating the return of new pipeline construction opportunities.
Those hoping to count pipeline companies once again as customers are sporting big smiles these days.
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