Financing the Natural Gas Industry: The Role of Life Insurance Investment Policies

This study empirically examines the role of intrinsic speed capabilities, which refer to the ability to execute investment projects faster than competitors, in shaping corporations’ choice of alliances versus autonomous project development. Our basic premise is that firms lacking intrinsic speed capabilities (i.e., slow firms) are more likely to turn to alliances to supplement their capability deficiency. However, we expect that the ability of slow firms to partner with fast firms hinges on the former’s possession of complementary supporting assets. Our empirical analyses furnish evidence supporting these ideas using data from the global liquefied natural gas industry.

Download Full-text

Finding Fault with the Nexus Pipeline? Agency Capture and the Public Good

Case Studies in the Environment ◽

10.1525/cse.2017.sc.453098 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Andrew R. Kear

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Public Good ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Environmental Impact Statement ◽

Gas Industry ◽

The Public ◽

Fracturing Process ◽

Natural Gas Industry ◽

Regulatory Commission

Natural gas is an increasingly vital U.S. energy source that is presently being tapped and transported across state and international boundaries. Controversy engulfs natural gas, from the hydraulic fracturing process used to liberate it from massive, gas-laden Appalachian shale deposits, to the permitting and construction of new interstate pipelines bringing it to markets. This case explores the controversy flowing from the proposed 256-mile-long interstate Nexus pipeline transecting northern Ohio, southeastern Michigan and terminating at the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. As the lead agency regulating and permitting interstate pipelines, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also tasked with mitigating environmental risks through the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act's Environmental Impact Statement process. Pipeline opponents assert that a captured federal agency ignores public and scientific input, inadequately addresses public health and safety risks, preempts local control, and wields eminent domain powers at the expense of landowners, cities, and everyone in the pipeline path. Proponents counter that pipelines are the safest means of transporting domestically abundant, cleaner burning, affordable gas to markets that will boost local and regional economies and serve the public good. Debates over what constitutes the public good are only one set in a long list of contentious issues including pipeline safety, proposed routes, property rights, public voice, and questions over the scientific and democratic validity of the Environmental Impact Statement process. The Nexus pipeline provides a sobering example that simple energy policy solutions and compromise are elusive—effectively fueling greater conflict as the natural gas industry booms.

Download Full-text