Americans for Prosperity Agrees with Sec. Wright: Permitting Reform can Reduce Energy Costs

In an interview with Politico, Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright provided insight into the Administration’s efforts to course correct away from the Biden Administration’s misguided energy policies:  

 The momentum of the Obama-Biden policies, for sure that destruction is going to continue in the coming years. That momentum is pushing prices up right now.

Unfortunately, the impacts of the Biden Administration’s energy policies are being felt by consumers and are poised to worsen as energy demands continue to rise. Fortunately, there’s a path to significantly increasing our supply of affordable, reliable energy: permitting reform. The federal permitting process consistently delays the construction and operation of new energy facilities, reducing available energy while pushing up consumer costs.  

Permitting Failures in the States 

In Pennsylvania, the average retail electricity price jumped nearly 18 percent from 2021 to 2022 while several energy projects were scuttled by endless days stemming from the permitting process. In one notable case, the PennEast Pipeline was cancelled after languishing in permitting purgatory for six years. This pipeline would have delivered nearly 20 percent of the state’s natural gas consumption per day, allowing for cheaper fuel for both energy production facilities and for home heating. 

And the permitting doesn’t only extend to traditional energy production sources. In Nevada, a state that saw a 22 percent jump in the average retail electricity costs in 2022, solar projects suffered the same failures of the current permitting process. The Gemini Solar energy project filed its permitting paperwork in 2017 and faced multiple years’ worth of delays courtesy of bureaucratic delays until it the plant was completed in mid-2024. This plant produces roughly 10 percent of the state’s electricity, but yet even its importance to the grid could not overcome bureaucracy.  

 Remove Barriers to Achieve Energy Abundance

The nation is being held back from energy abundance by overly burdensome permitting processes. Americans are already struggling with inflated costs from the Biden Administration and should not be subject to spiking energy costs as well. Secretary Wright highlighted that the Administration is “swimming seven days a week to try to offset that negative momentum,” and AFP is more than happy to break down the regulatory dam blocking affordable energy. 

Take action on permitting reform through AFP’s Prosperity is Possible campaign.