Improved infrastructure and lower, more stable energy prices will make U.S. manufacturers more competitive with their foreign counterparts. In addition, the United States would be less dependent on foreign energy sources, leading to more employment opportunities, higher incomes and better benefits for U.S. workers. Investment in infrastructure, including energy and transportation infrastructure, also fuels job growth in the manufacturing sector. For example, a 2016 IHS Economics study found that construction of natural gas pipelines resulted in nearly 60,000 new manufacturing jobs in 2015 alone. According to a 2017 study by The Boston Consulting Group, a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure would generate approximately 1.6 million new jobs in the United States.

Policymakers must –

• Make new investments to rebuild North American infrastructure and work with the private sector to drive new business investment.
• Establish a national energy policy that produces a steady, reliable and affordable supply of energy, including renewable and non-renewable, from all domestic sources.
• Require a cost-benefit analysis of all new regulations proposed by the Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps of Engineers and Interior Department.
• Improve transparency in the regulatory process and require involvement from representatives of the industries that will be impacted.
• Reject international climate change agreements that put the United States at a competitive disadvantage.
• Rationalize the permitting requirements and approval process for infrastructure investments, new energy production and transmission facilities.
• Open more federal lands to oil and gas exploration and enhance offshore drilling.

Communications from MSCI:

Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the Trans National Pipeline

MSCI, Energy Builders Letter Outlines Why The Atlantic Coast Pipeline Is So Important

Coalitions & Partners:

Energy Equipment And Infrastructure Alliance: http://www.eeia.org

Partnership For A Better Energy Future: http://www.betterenergyfuture.org

EP regulatory overreach would result in significant domestic job losses, higher energy prices for consumers and lower economic growth in the United States. In recent years, the department has proposed an ozone regulation that was potentially the costliest rule in U.S. history, and a Waters of the United States rule that would have eroded private property rights while. Stricter power plant emissions regulations would threaten the reliability of the U.S. electricity grid. Officials from the EPA have acknowledged that, in some cases, these rules would do little to improve our environment. And because so few developing nations have advanced specific proposals to address their often significant environmental challenges, the United States risks putting its job creators at a significant disadvantage while pollution continues abroad.

Relevant Links:

• Partnership for a Better Energy Future

The approval of pipeline construction permits should be routine and expeditious. Insufficient pipeline capacity—caused, in part, by delays in permitting for new pipeline construction—contributes to increased energy prices and market volatility. Timely approval of pipeline permits will increase employment opportunities for U.S. workers. The United States also must open more land to energy exploration.

Relevant Links:

• Energy, Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance, Inc

Our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling; the United States ranks 11th in the world, behind countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland when it comes to the overall quality of our infrastructure. Our broken transportation system hinders the metals industry’s ability to buy, sell and trade. It also reduces employee productivity and increases business costs so U.S. companies are less competitive globally. While competing nations continued to invest in infrastructure, U.S. spending on highways, roads and bridges fell 3.5 percent each year from 2003 to 2012.