Lowering Energy Costs Starts with Permitting Reform: It’s Time to Pass the SPEED Act

Lawmakers are speeding to reform the federal permitting process, the root cause of years of America’s energy and construction problems. Decades of government bureaucracy and red tape, overwhelming how, when, where, and how quickly we build in America, has led to Americans’ rising concerns about the affordability of electricity and energy. On Thursday, the House Committee on Natural Resources is holding a markup of the SPEED Act, a permitting reform bill introduced by Reps. Bruce Westerman (R) and Jared Golden (D), that will help ensure we clear the way for energy that is affordable, reliable, and produced in abundance here in America. Here’s how: 

The SPEED Act primarily reforms the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process, a key procedural hurdle that often results in elongated delays for vital energy projects. This bill ensures NEPA reviews have consistent and predictable timelines, clarifies what is deemed a major Federal action to trigger a NEPA review, places reasonable judicial limitations on reviews, and simplifies the entire bureaucratic process.  

Americans for Prosperity’s grassroots activists have been at the forefront of this issue during its Road to Prosperity campaign, travelling across the nation to more than half a dozen states, educating voters and lawmakers about why the permitting process needs to be fixed. We’ve visited oil rigs, coal and iron mines, energy processing sites, and more in states from Louisiana to Wyoming.  

The SPEED Act markup on Thursday is a great first step to helping unleash prosperity in the form of more, better-paying jobs, reducing the backlog of hundreds of energy infrastructure projects stuck in permitting purgatory, and advancing a policy of energy abundance.  

This is an encouraging step toward a policy that can make a real difference. Americans for Prosperity—and millions of Americans—welcome lawmakers’ efforts to pass legislation that will help lower energy costs and power the future for this and future generations. 

Take action on permitting reform through AFP’s Prosperity is Possible campaign, or learn more about the campaign here.  

James Morrone Jr. is an energy policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity