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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 19, 2015 01:36 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Natural Gas Infrastructure Expansion and Access Act |
| I plan to introduce legislation aimed at expanding the reach of natural gas infrastructure so more households and businesses in Pennsylvania can access natural gas as their source of energy. With Pennsylvania literally sitting on a vast amount of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, we need to significantly expand access to more residential, commercial and industrial customers so that they can benefit from this abundant, clean, low-cost domestic energy source. While there is increased interest from homeowners and businesses to utilize natural gas, there is a lack of infrastructure to access it. My legislation would take a concept from what New Jersey did with Verizon in the area of cable and apply it in Pennsylvania with natural gas. In 2006, New Jersey passed a law which granted Verizon a statewide franchise to wire hundreds of towns for FiOS. The law required Verizon to wire (build out) a certain number of communities within three to six years. Using the concept of a “monopoly” which Verizon appeared to have with cable, my legislation would direct the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to bid out designated areas throughout the Commonwealth for deployment of natural gas lines. The company that secures the bid would have a “monopoly” in that area and be required to build a natural gas line in that part so that homes, businesses and industries could connect to the line. The PUC would provide for regulation of prices, hookups and laying of pipe. As a result of this proposal, the Commonwealth would benefit from new revenue generated from companies bidding on these projects. In addition, the companies that secure the bids would benefit from the monopoly of the lines they construct as well as the homes and businesses that decide to connect to the line. This legislation will help to foster extension and expansion of natural gas distribution systems to unserved and underserved residential, commercial and industrial sites in the Commonwealth. |
Introduced as SB953