Go for Gold on Permitting Reform

Editor’s note: This is one installment in a One Small Step series exploring how our founding principles apply to policy change movements. See the series introduction and full collection here.  

This year, American celebrates its 250th birthday, the big semiquincentennial. Like past Fourth’s, there will be the backyard parties, firework displays, and the truly American tradition of a national hot dog eating contest. But aside from the festivities, the Fourth represents an opportunity to reflect on the key principles of American democracy, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” words that should guide us every day.  

This year especially, the “pursuit of Happiness” echoes louder than years past, as the nation faces new, yet almost familiar, challenges blocking us from flourishing as the founders hoped. The latest challenge, reforming the federal permitting process to power the economy into the future. 

It’s no secret that electricity and energy costs are on the rise, utilities and grid operators all predict demand to rise due to a combination of AI and data center development to the increasing electrification of homes, vehicles, and other facets of daily life. The best way to meet this demand is with more baseload generating capacity. Simply put, America needs to build more power plants and transmission infrastructure to increase the flow of energy. 

Unfortunately, the current permitting system has become a chokepoint to the flow of energy. According to recent studies, an energy project can wait an average of four to five years before receiving approval. And that’s before adding in the time costs for overlapping state approval processes, extensive lawsuits challenging federal approval, or even the time needed to build and connect an energy project to the grid. The longer it takes for a project to get approval, the costlier energy becomes for ratepayers.  

And these costs are not subject only to increased utility bills, but costs communities new jobs and new sources of tax revenue. A recent report found that the permitting process cost at least 50,000 permanent and temporary jobs and roughly $75 billion in economic output in six states. Imagine what the permitting process is costing at a national level.  

Fortunately, lawmakers from both parties have seen the harm of permitting and bureaucratic delays and are working to clear the bottleneck. The House passed the bipartisan SPEED and PERMIT Acts at the end of 2025 while the Senate is engaged in their own bipartisan permitting negotiations. 

Right now, America has an opportunity to grow the economy and lower energy prices. As a great hockey coach once said, “Great moments are born from great opportunity.” 

Both the American men and women’s hockey teams went against the odds and won the gold. Washington should do the same by streamlining the federal permitting process. 

James Morrone is an Energy Policy Analyst at Americans for Prosperity.