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Energy Projects Worth $50 Billion Are Stalled Until Trump Fills Empty Posts

  • Approvals are waiting for nominees to fill out regulator seats
  • Pipelines, terminals and mergers are languishing in limbo

Emissions from a refining facility in Oregon, Ohio.

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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By the time Midwesterners fire up their furnaces this fall, the $2 billion Nexus pipeline is supposed to be pumping natural gas to heat homes from frosty Ohio to frostier Ontario. But six months out, the 255-mile (410-kilometer) pipeline exists only on paper.

Until President Donald Trump fills key vacancies at an energy regulator, Nexus and other sprawling energy projects are in limbo, unable to secure permits to begin construction. For Nexus developers DTE Energy Co. and Spectra Energy Partners LP, each week that passes threatens the project’s ability to meet winter demands.