Infrastructure Week: The Real Story Is Underground
During Infrastructure Week, policymakers and industry leaders will highlight the systems that keep America moving. Roads, bridges, ports, and airports rightly receive attention. But one of the most important infrastructure stories this year is happening underground.
Natural gas pipelines are in focus because America's energy needs are growing, quickly.
Electricity needs are climbing, in part because artificial intelligence and data centers require enormous amounts of reliable power. At the same time, liquefied natural gas exports continue to expand, allowing the U.S. to supply allies and trading partners abroad while strengthening domestic production. In its 2026 Annual Energy Outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects strong long-term growth in natural gas demand from both the power sector and export markets.
Natural gas is the largest source of electricity generation in the U.S. at approximately 41%, providing reliable and affordable power to homes, businesses, manufacturers, hospitals, and schools. As demand for natural gas continues to grow, infrastructure capacity must grow with it so that low-cost, reliable energy can reach the consumers and businesses that depend on it.
The Appalachian Basin, home to the Marcellus and Utica shales, is expected to play a central role in meeting future demand. Production in the East region remains among the lowest-cost in the nation. But abundant supply alone is not enough. Natural gas must be transported to where it is needed, including manufacturing centers, power plants, and export terminals along the Gulf Coast.
Pipelines make that possible.
Pipelines are the essential link between America's energy resources and the consumers who depend on them. They deliver affordable energy to homes, fuel industrial growth, support grid reliability, and enable exports that enhance national security. Without pipelines, natural gas cannot get from the wellhead to power plants, factories, or family homes. Without adequate pipeline capacity, supply bottlenecks emerge, prices become more volatile, and economic opportunities are lost.
The infrastructure required to meet that demand is significant. The INGAA Foundation’s recent North American Midstream Infrastructure Report projects that more than $1 trillion in new midstream investment will be required through 2052. That includes roughly 37,000 miles of additional natural gas transmission pipelines and more than 100,000 miles of gathering systems needed to connect production to processing facilities and major transmission networks.
To meet those long-term projections, companies are already investing; many major pipeline projects are moving forward today.
According to Fortune, natural gas pipeline construction in the U.S. is experiencing its largest growth surge in nearly two decades, since the beginning of the shale revolution. More than 150 pipeline projects are planned nationwide, representing roughly 150 billion cubic feet of new capacity, according to analytics firm Arbo. Wood Mackenzie estimates that companies have committed $50 billion to new pipeline investments that would add approximately 8,800 miles of infrastructure across the country.
This builds on the approximately 6.3 billion cubic feet per day of new capacity added to the grid in 2025, with most of that infrastructure directed toward the South-Central region and the rapidly growing LNG corridor along the Gulf Coast. Last year’s buildout, coupled with progress being made today are meaningful, much more infrastructure will be needed in the years ahead to keep pace with rising demand
The U.S. has an enormous advantage in its abundant, low-cost natural gas resources. It also has an opportunity to lead in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and global energy exports. But those opportunities depend on infrastructure that can move energy from where it is produced to where it is needed.
This Infrastructure Week, policymakers should recognize that pipelines are every bit as vital as highways and bridges. They may run underground and out of sight, but they help power factories, data centers, export terminals, and homes across the country.
Amy Andryszak is the president and chief executive officer of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, a Washington, D.C. based trade association representing interstate natural gas pipeline companies.
