ARLINGTON, VA—The following editorial, as published by the The New York Times, underscores growing bipartisan agreement: America’s permitting system is failing the country’s economic, energy, and infrastructure future. From transmission lines and manufacturing facilities to pipelines, roads, and grid modernization, permitting reform is no longer simply a regulatory debate — it is an economic imperative. As global energy demand rises and America faces mounting pressure to secure affordable, reliable, and abundant power, policymakers from both Parties should prioritize permitting reform that accelerates investment, strengthens domestic energy production, and restores the nation’s ability to build.
America’s Arrested Development
by: NYT Editorial Board
Eight years ago, local officials in Washington learned that a section of a sewage line next to the Potomac River had become corroded and was at risk of bursting. They wanted to repair it urgently. But the officials first needed to apply for a federal permit.
When they did, federal officials demanded an exhaustive review of the project’s potential effects on trees, wildflowers and bats rather than granting the permit, The Washington Post has documented. Four months ago, the section burst, spewing hundreds of millions of gallons of raw human waste into the Potomac.
This example is extreme, but it shows how well-meaning permitting laws have stymied vital projects in the United States. Government agencies can take years to grant permits. The highest toll comes from the accumulated harm of the millions of projects that are never built: homes that would make housing more affordable; roads, bridges and transit that would speed movement; factories and office buildings that would provide good jobs; power plants that would be cleaner than those they replaced.
Congress now has an opportunity to lift some of the regulatory burden. In December, the House passed a bill to reform federal permitting rules, the Speed Act, with 11 Democrats joining most Republicans. The bill is a good start but could stand to be improved. Senators from both parties recently restarted talks on their own version of a bill.
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