A TransCanada executive said the Diamond and Keystone XL pipelines are pieces of an estimated $550 billion in new pipelines needed to meet energy demands over the next 25 years.
Senior Vice President Corey Goulet with TransCanada's natural gas pipelines major projects division said the new administration is already making the federal part of the process easier.
"But that doesn't stop the difficulty we might have in individual states," Goulet said. "Meanwhile, the public is asleep and allowing others to make decisions on their behalf. It's entirely possible for North America to become energy independent, but that depends on the will of the people and our elected representatives."
Goulet said pipeline opponents built their case on three major accidents in 2010, and energy companies need to be more transparent with local communities as a result.
TransCanada's costs to build pipelines are up 600 percent since 1990. Most but not all of that comes down to more stringent regulations and increased permitting requirements.
"Some of this increase is also due to the productivity of our contractors. The pipeline industry has an aging workforce. As an industry, we need to focus on recruiting and training new entrants to improve productivity," Goulet said.
To put the cost increase into perspective, Goulet said 10 years ago, offshore oil and gas pipelines were thought to be prohibitively expensive.
"But recent project data indicates that land pipelines might be 20 to 30 percent more expensive than offshore pipelines, and much of that increase in land pipeline costs are associated with new land stakeholder relations, permitting and regulatory condition requirements," Goulet said. "These are trends that we need to reverse."
Goulet spoke Wednesday at the Pipeline + Energy Expo in Tulsa.
