TC Energy plans $8.5 billion investment in U.S. energy projects

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The company that owns the Coastal GasLink pipeline announced plans for a major investment in American energy.

In an interview on Fox Business’ Mornings With Maria on September 22nd, TC Energy chief executive officer Francois Poirier announced an $8.5 billion investment into new American power projects over the next five years.

“We see natural gas demand growing by 45 billion cubic feet a day over the next decade, with the vast majority of that being in the United States,” Poirier said. “With the energy dominance agenda of the president, the economic growth we see, winning the AI race — it’s all about energy, and natural gas is going to be the backbone.”

Poirier went on to call the current U.S. administration “the most sophisticated in decades” in terms of energy literacy, saying it understands the connection between energy dominance, economic prosperity and national security.

“There’s definitely an effort to accelerate timelines for permitting,” he added. “What used to take two or three years of permitting and two or three years of construction, we’re hopeful to see those timelines cut in half or better, and that will allow us to be putting in new power generation before the end of the decade.”

He also mentioned that he expects the investment to create significant jobs in the building trades, construction and steel industries in America.

When it comes to American tariffs on international steel, Poirier dismissed the idea of it being a concern, saying there was “plenty of steel production capacity” to meet TC Energy’s needs.

Poirier also said Canada has “more than enough natural gas” to take care of itself when asked about Canadian energy needs.

Beyond Coastal GasLink, TC Energy also has a hand in other projects in northern Canada, including the North Montney Mainline. 

It also was the original company managing the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline project before that was sold to the Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG.