Op-Ed Submission to the Clinton Journal

July 2, 2008

There’s been a lot of discussion and media coverage about Enbridge Energy’s proposal to build an underground pipeline between Pontiac, Illinois and the major petroleum hub at Patoka, Illinois.  If built, the pipeline will transport crude petroleum from Canada that, ultimately, will be delivered to refineries in Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana -- all of which supply Illinois consumers with fuel products that we use every day.

As the Illinois Commerce Commission gets ready to host a hearing on Enbridge’s application for a Certificate of Public Need and Other Relief, including authorization to use eminent domain if needed to route this pipeline, it’s important to consider the big energy picture.

After all, nothing is more fundamental to a healthy economy than the availability of reliable energy.  It is needed in every business.  Its availability and cost profoundly affect every aspect of our economy -- the private and public sectors, our residents and families and our overall quality of life.  Illinois’ demand for energy is going to increase in the coming decades at the same time global energy demand is expected to increase 35 to 50 percent (according to the International Energy Association).

The use of renewable energy and energy conservation is becoming increasingly important – as it should.  But the simple fact is that crude oil will have to be a major part of our energy portfolio for years to come in order to ensure a reliable, affordable supply of transportation fuels and other petroleum-based products. 

Given this growing need in our state, Illinois is lucky to be well-positioned to receive a reliable supply of crude oil from our largest trading partner and friendly ally, Canada. An added benefit to this supply is that it comes to our state through the safest, most reliable and most environmentally efficient means of transportation – underground pipelines.

So when you get down to it, the debate before us is not whether it’s a good idea to expand our ability to increase our supply of crude oil from Canada, but whether the project should have the opportunity to use the power of eminent domain if needed as a last resort.

The answer to that question is “yes.”

Companies like Enbridge are forced to meet a high threshold to prove that their energy project serves the public need and benefit.  That threshold should be high.  But once a project meets that standard, it makes sense to provide it with the ability to ensure the project cannot be stopped by any single or small group of landowners.

The people of Illinois have to prepare for the reality that as our need for energy grows, we’ll have to build more energy infrastructure.  This means more wind farms, more modernized refineries, more clean coal, solar and nuclear power plants and yes, more underground pipelines and transmission lines that transport the energy to the places it’s needed.

There is the dangerous dynamic going on in Illinois and other states across the county where everyone wants access to reliable energy, but no one wants it produced or transmitted or transported near them. We need to come to grips with the fact that we simply can’t have it both ways.

This dynamic is also true even for growth in alternative energies. Companies proposing wind farms throughout the country – including a project along the border of McLean and Woodford counties -- are seeing their projects delayed or they are scrapping their projects altogether because of opposition from nearby landowners.

In San Diego, the local utility company wants to build a large solar energy farm to provide the alternative energy to customers in Southern California.  Yet landowners and other groups are fighting the project because the transmission lines from the desert to San Diego will be unsightly.

Here in Illinois, an extensive underground pipeline system has been quietly delivering energy to refineries and consumers for decades.  Most of it was built without having to go through the eminent domain process.  But sometimes that power is needed to avoid years of delays, costly miles of additional pipeline route or the cancelation of the project.

We have the chance here in Illinois to help us meet future demand in an energy hungry global marketplace and diversify our energy portfolio while creating jobs and growing our state’s economy.  Let’s hope the prevailing myth that we can meet our energy needs without building new infrastructure doesn’t stop us from taking advantage of this opportunity.

Tom Wolf

Executive Director, Energy Council

Illinois Chamber of Commerce