Energy Infrastructure is one of the topics essentially absent from the Congressional agenda at the moment, with the exception of continuing efforts to pass a Keystone XL bill. As you recall, the last bill successfully passed the House and Senate, only to be vetoed by President. It ultimately died in the Senate where it lacked the votes to override said veto.
What's interesting is the legislature is dealing with a lot of infrastructure and transportation structure and funding issues (the Highway Trust Fund, Supply Chain issues on the West Coast, EPA Clean Power Limit Proposals, etc) but has somewhat neglected looking at energy infrastructure as a stand alone concern.
One of the EPA proposals under review, the "Clean Power Plan" which seeks to limit carbon emissions from existing power plants. The proposal would spike electricity rates further, and rate payers would also be on the hook for the upgrades needed to comply with the proposal if it goes through in its current form.
This is especially bad for New Englanders who have recently been dealt a 37% rate hike on electric utility rates (read more on that here: MA Rate Hikes). New Englands issue is a lack of infrastructure on the natural gas side, somewhat ironically.
I wrote an article for the March issue of Oil & Energy Magazine on Infrastructure policies under review and how a lack of forward progress on them could slow economic growth. You can read the full article here: Infrastructure Shortfalls Could Slow Growth
