Modernize Permitting

We need to build cleaner, faster. Clean energy and grid modernization present tremendous economic opportunities, but burdensome and outdated regulations mean that new projects take five years on average to come online.

We have to move faster by enacting common sense reforms to the permitting process.


Upgraded transmission and new energy projects all start with a permit

Why do we need to build cleaner faster?

An era of unprecedented energy demand. America is at the dawn of a new age of energy demand fueled by a revival of American manufacturing, widespread electrification, and advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. By 2040, energy demand growth is expected to increase by 35-50%. This is equivalent to adding three Texases worth of demand to the U.S. grid, which requires building thousands of new power plants to reliably supply energy.

These developments present immense opportunities for America to build big things again, including thousands of new power plants, energy projects and transmission lines to connect to the grid at an unprecedented pace and scale.

Bureaucratic obstacles cause delays at every stage of project development whether it is federal permitting, lawsuits or local opposition. The American permitting system must be modernized to meet rising demand and ensure access to clean, reliable, affordable and abundant energy.

Let America Build. America’s broken permitting system is hindering the ability to meet surging energy demand and presents a national security threat. If we cannot build, we cannot compete. According to a McKinsey study, it takes projects across sectors around 4-5 years to move through the permitting system and that delay costs $100-140 billion a year in economic value in the form of jobs, revenue, and capital returns.

It’s time to face the facts: time is money, and the lengthy permitting process disincentivizes investment in energy infrastructure, halts development and reduces access to clean, reliable and affordable power. President Trump stressed the need for permitting reform in his executive order, “Unleashing American Energy.” However, a durable, legislative fix is required to get projects moving and ensure they keep moving regardless of changes in the Administration. Needed changes include modernizing NEPA, addressing NEPA litigation, increasing transparency, and strengthening the grid.

Solutions

Streamline permitting by modernizing NEPA and updating environmental regulations. Congress must build on bipartisan reforms, like the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and modernize the outdated NEPA process. For half a century, NEPA has remained largely untouched by Congress. Since the 1970s, environmental reviews have grown in length and scope, with some reviews including several thousand pages of analysis and dragging on for years, even decades. The cost of these delays is significant. In May 2025, the Supreme Court Seven County case reaffirmed that NEPA is a procedural statute to inform decision-making, not dictate outcomes, and clarified the scope and limits of agency discretion in the NEPA process. The Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, led by Reps. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Jared Golden (D-ME) would codify key elements of Seven County, modernize the scope of NEPA review, and provide clarity and certainty to the permitting process.

In addition to addressing NEPA, Congress could further improve the permitting process by taking steps such as updating environmental regulations, like the Clean Water Act, and expanding categorical exclusions where appropriate.

Reform judicial review. The current system is overwhelmingly tilted in favor of those seeking to delay or block infrastructure projects. This uncertainty affects all energy development, where delays drive development costs and discourage investment. Limiting legal challenges to clear and material errors under natural resources laws, narrowing the scope of review, and enforcing statutory timelines for resolving disputes are needed first steps to limit frivolous litigation. A more predictable process benefits all parties involved. It allows claims to move forward when real harm occurs while limiting litigation that seeks to delay or cancel projects. The SPEED Act would address these core issues, reduce frivolous litigation, boost investor confidence, and promote building American energy infrastructure.

Increase transparency and efficiency by deploying technology. Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and other automation technologies can help reduce the human capital burden of project reviews and increase transparency. The Trump Administration issued a presidential memorandum instructing agencies to move away from a paper-based application and review process and to utilize technology to streamline permitting, including providing transparency with a searchable database of pending permit applications. Technology modernization is the lowest-hanging fruit for bipartisan action to facilitate fast NEPA and permitting reviews. The ePermit Act, led by Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Scott Peters (D-CA) would ensure federal agencies leverage technology to speed up environmental reviews, enhancing efficiency and transparency for infrastructure developers.

Strengthen the grid to let American energy move. Fixing permitting alone is not enough, we must also be able to move energy with a robust grid and pipeline system. To power our AI-driven future, support American manufacturing and keep electric bills affordable, we need to make the grid smarter and larger, and we need to do it soon. The Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan identified optimizing the existing grid through innovations that enhance its efficiency and capacity, as well as accelerating the interconnection of new power projects, particularly clean dispatchable generation, as critical policy solutions. To build more transmission, bipartisan solutions that improve transmission siting and planning are essential for providing certainty to developers and advancing affordability for consumers. The SPEED and Reliability Act led by Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY) and Scott Peters (D-CA) would update the backstop siting of transmission lines in the national interest and create certainty for cost-allocation. The GRID Power Act led by Rep. Balderson (R-OH) and Senator Hoeven (R-ND) requires FERC to authorize transmission providers to prioritize dispatchable power projects in the interconnection queue that can address grid reliability.