It's not very often that Congress passes new legislation that helps the oil and gas industry, but recent legislation could be a step in the right direction to help build out the much needed pipeline infrastructure for natural gas. The new bill proposes to expedite the permitting process for natural gas pipelines and would force the hand of regulatory agencies to make decisions in a timely manner.
For oil- and gas-rich parts of the country, this could be very helpful. Some of the fast-growing unconventional shale plays in the U.S. have a large lack of natural gas pipeline infrastructure. In the state of North Dakota, a lack of gas takeaway capacity has led to wells flaring off as much as one-third of extracted gas. In this video, Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe looks at some of the regions in the country, and some of the companies, that could benefit from this legislation.
