As a gas royalty owner, I am excited about the prospects for clearing some of the hurdles that have hindered the development of the state’s bountiful reserves of natural gas. We are paid on the volume of natural gas produced from wells and the price for that gas. But the lack of infrastructure capacity for shipping that natural gas has hurt both the volume and price of our natural gas production. Primarily, West Virginia needs more pipelines.

Recently, Senator Joe Manchin negotiated a deal that led to congressional approval of the Inflation Reduction Act. He also negotiated a side deal that would lead to reforming the regulatory process that has hindered the development of pipelines and other infrastructure. The proposed reforms would make it easier for government agencies to expedite permits for such infrastructure and simplify the judicial process for considering appeals to regulatory agencies’ decisions.

The best-known example of how regulatory hurdles have inhibited infrastructure development is the Mountain Valley Pipeline. By some accounts, it is 94 percent complete, but construction has been at a standstill for quite some time now because of legal obstacles in obtaining environmental permits. Completion of that pipeline would allow significant amounts of West Virginia natural gas to be transported efficiently and economically to southern states. It might also mean the United States could export more natural gas to European allies who face threats of being cut off from Russian gas supplies.

The mid-Ohio River Valley and the north-central regions of West Virginia have enormous amounts of natural gas that needs to get to market, but the lack of infrastructure has hindered that transportation. We need to overcome that infrastructure obstacle, so that West Virginia can develop more wells and unleash significant potential for economic development.

Whether you like the Inflation Reduction Act or not doesn’t matter. Congress passed it, and it has been signed into law. That fight is over. But we still need Congress to approve the deal Senator Manchin negotiated to reform the regulatory process. It’s a sure bet that legislators and activists from the far left will work to block it.

Let’s hope the Republican members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation can put politics behind them and support Manchin’s efforts on this issue. We royalty owners, as well as the gas industry workers and developers, don’t see this as a political issue but as an issue of jobs. If members of our congressional delegation do their jobs, it will mean more jobs for our fellow West Virginians.

Bill Hanning III lives in Fairmont, West Virginia, and works for Hundred Resources, Inc. Hundred Resources, Inc., is a holding company that owns real estate and oil and gas interests in West Virginia.