Hoeven: Investments Like Hess-Targa Gas Plant Supported by Tax & Regulatory Relief, Will Create Good Jobs

01.25.18

WASHINGTON - Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement after Hess Midstream Partners and Targa Resources announced plans to construct a $150 million gas processing plant in McKenzie County.

'The Hess-Targa gas plant is an important investment in the Bakken, which will add value to our oil and gas industry, support the viability of operations throughout the region and help reduce flaring. Private investments in infrastructure are essential to growing our economy, but in order for these projects to happen, we need to have the right kind of business climate. This is exactly why we're working to provide tax and regulatory relief. Regulatory relief provides the certainty businesses need to make long-term plans, and tax relief helps them invest in their operations here at home. That means a stronger economy and good jobs, which are always a top priority.'

Hoeven has worked throughout his tenure, both as governor and now as U.S. Senator, to establish a pro-growth business climate with the right kind of legal, tax and regulatory environment to encourage investment and job creation. To this end, he helped pass tax relief last month that lowers rates across the board for families and businesses. He has also worked through his role on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Appropriations Committee to secure regulatory relief that provides certainty for businesses as they work to invest in infrastructure and energy production, among other things. His efforts include:

• Stopping the Waters of the U.S. Rule - Hoeven worked through the Appropriations Committee to defund the regulation in 2016 and 2017. EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently issued a proposal to restore the regulations that were in place prior to WOTUS, which was issued in 2015. This is the first of two steps established by the executive order signed by the president in February.
• Rolling Back Burdensome Regulations - Hoeven joined the President and Interior Secretary to implement executive orders and begin rolling back regulations that hamper domestic energy production, including the EPA's costly rules for coal-generating power plants, BLM's hydraulic fracturing rule for federal lands, BLM's methane rule and the moratorium on federal coal leasing. The senator also cosponsored and voted for a resolution to repeal the BLM methane rule, for which the administration has proposed a three-year delay while it works to review and rescind the rule.
• Streamlining Approval of Cross-Border Infrastructure - Hoeven is working to advance legislation similar to the North American Energy Infrastructure Act, which he introduced last Congress. This would prevent unnecessary delays for important energy infrastructure projects, like pipelines and electrical transmission lines, that cross the national boundaries between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico.
• Preventing Permit Delays for Oil & Gas Wells - Hoeven's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Mineral Spacing Act would direct BLM to establish a pilot program to waive the requirement for a federal permit when less than 50 percent of subsurface minerals are owned or held in trust by the federal government and there is no federal surface land. This would help free up BLM's staff and resources and address the backlog of applications for permit to drill (APD) on federal lands.
• Expediting Gas-Gathering Infrastructure - Hoeven has worked to reduce natural gas flaring by addressing the BLM's backlog of permit applications for gas-gathering infrastructure and pressing for workable, state-led regulations. The senator helped introduce the bipartisan Natural Gas Gathering Enhancement Act last Congress, which sets deadlines for and expedites the permitting of natural gas gathering lines on federal and Indian land.

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