Executive Chairman of the Board, Williams Companies
Search every verified Alan Armstrong interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Senator Alan Armstrong (R-OK) has made permitting reform for energy and mineral infrastructure the central focus of his tenure since being appointed to the Senate in March 2026. He introduced the American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure Act alongside Senators Rick Scott, Cynthia Lummis, Katie Britt, and James Lankford. In his inaugural Senate floor speech on July 16, 2026, Armstrong argued that the U.S. has abundant energy resources but lacks the infrastructure to deliver them, and he attributed this to a permitting process that he said creates litigation risk and uncertainty for investors. He cited his experience as CEO of Williams Companies, describing a project where a federal court vacated a pipeline certificate after the project was already operating, and another instance where a 120-mile pipeline was blocked by a state using Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Armstrong has stated that the problem is not a lack of environmental protections but rather the process and litigation risk, and he has said his bill does not aim to diminish environmental standards. He has described the current system as "strangling" the country and called for Congress to show "political courage" to fix it. Armstrong has said he has no political ambition beyond his current seat and that his short, non-reelection term gives him freedom to focus on this issue. He has also expressed surprise at what he described as a focus by Democratic Party leadership on preventing productive outcomes, and he has said he considers himself "very moderate" and believes in putting country ahead of party.
“I saw this problem first hand while leading the Williams companies. We pursued the Constitution pipeline, a 120-mile project designed to carry low-cost Pennsylvania natural gas to constrained markets in the Northeast. We had our federal certificate. We had bought the pipe, we had bought the right-of-way, and we were ac...”
“That is the central contradiction of our current system. America can produce extraordinary quantities of affordable energy, but our permitting process too often prevents us from ever from being able to deliver it to the consumers. That is not an inevitable outcome. It is the result of political choices, and it can be c...”
“It's not a bad thing to be an incumbent pipeline company when it's really really impossible to build new pipelines. Um, and it, you know, tends to drive up the value of a scarce commodity in terms of pipeline capacity. Um, but long-term I think that's a terrible thing for our country and it's ultimately bad for the ind...”
“Permitting is kind of that same issue where it can really strangle our country and the competitive advantages that we've had for so long um if we don't fix it. But it's not a it's not a particularly popular issue because the everyday person doesn't understand how that drives their utility prices higher, how it lessens...”
“We want to fuss about high gasoline prices in California. People want to fuss about high utility prices in New England. And yet, we have some of the lowest cost resources sitting there available, but we won't build the infrastructure. California, you know, kind of shut out everything, all fossil fuel. New England, part...”
“Everybody always thinks that it's the the big bad federal agencies. And I will say that they are bureaucratic. I'm I'm not going to say that they're speedy, but they're generally well-intended, effective agencies. The problem is that the litigation has forced all of these agencies to go, 'Oh my god, we're going to get...”
“The permitting that we're working on ought to be focused on making it easier to site linear infrastructure no matter the energy source. It ought to be focused on citing infrastructure in a way that does it in a way that damages the environment directly as least as possible. It shouldn't be trying to deal with greenhous...”
“I do want to say the time is now and I've I've told this uh I think this is fairly well-known my my belief is that it has to happen this year. Um if history is any uh guide and if the polls are any guide uh there will be different uh chairpersons in the house next year.”
“Permitting reform is obviously something I think is actually more important than any of those issues that we've been talking about because it's something that's really holding our nation back. It's a huge tax against our economy, and it really is very crucial to our future to be able to get back to building things here...”
“Permitting reform is obviously something I think is actually more important than any of those issues that we've been talking about because it's something that's really holding our nation back. It's a huge tax against our economy, and it really is very crucial to our future to be able to get back to building things here...”
“For a company like the Williams Companies where I was the CEO, that has a lot of the big incumbent pipelines, has the nation's largest pipeline, when you're the incumbent and it's hard to build new stuff, it's actually not a very bad business environment. But I think looking at it long term, realizing that you're just...”
“It's almost incalculable because of the amount of capital that we are putting on the sidelines today by not having a dependable permitting process, that when somebody goes and starts to develop a project and a lot of times spends hundreds of millions of dollars developing the project, that that used to not be that big...”
“This is not a messaging bill. This is not a me on permitting. This is very much a bill that lays out in detail what we need to tackle and how we get it done.”
“The single most weaponized tool out there to stop a project these days, surprisingly, is the 401 water quality certificate that is issued by states. And most of these big longhaul interstate projects are going across multiple states. Sometimes there's a lot of benefit in that particular state for the project and someti...”
“We completed what people didn't think could get done, which was a billion dollar pipeline moving gas out of Pennsylvania into New Jersey. Project got built. It was, you know, a great feat by the permitting teams to work with the states, work with local land owners, work with school boards that were going to benefit fro...”
July 19, 2026 Sen. Alan Armstrong (R-OK) joins Fox News' Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy to discuss his recent ...
July 16, 2026 Senator Alan Armstrong (R-OK) delivers his first speech on the Senate floor, addressing his permitting reform agenda, the bill he recently introduced (the American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure Act), and how Congress can work together to solve a problem blocking America's ability to build and grow.
During Senate floor remarks on Thursday, Sen. Alan Armstrong (R-OK) spoke about energy security in the U.S. Stay Connected ...
We are excited to share this Special Edition featuring Senator Alan Armstrong (R-OK). Senator Armstrong, alongside Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Katie Britt (R-AL), and James Lankford (R-OK), recently introduced the American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure Act. The legislation seeks to modernize the federal permitting process for energy and mineral infrastructure projects while preserving strong environmental protections. We were delighted to host Senator Armstrong to discuss his experience in Washington, the motivation behind the legislation, and what it could mean for…
Plenary Session #11 at the Energy Imperative Summit 2026, entitled "Build more Pipes and Wires" featuring remarks from Senator Alan Armstrong (R-OK), Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA), moderated by Chris Barnard, President of the American Conservation Coalition. Learn more: EnergyImperatives.org The Energy Imperatives Summit is a two-day forum for the leaders, innovators, and thinkers restoring American energy dominance. June 9–10, 2026 The Capital Hilton 1001 16th St NW, Washington, DC The 2026 Summit welcomed more than 450 attendees for two days of policy-dense programming, including work…
Senator Alan Armstrong (R-Oklahoma) joins David Gura and Christina Ruffini on Bloomberg This Weekend and says permitting reform—not additional federal spending—is the most effective way to lower housing and energy costs, arguing regulatory delays have created infrastructure bottlenecks that drive up prices for consumers. -------- More on Bloomberg Television and Markets Like this video? Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any videos from Bloomberg Markets & Finance: https://tinyurl.com/ysu5b8a9 Visit http://www.bloomberg.com for business news & analysis, up-to-the-minu…
Senator Alan Armstrong (R-Oklahoma) joins David Gura and Christina Ruffini on Bloomberg This Weekend and says permitting reform—not additional federal spending—is the most effective way to lower housing and energy costs, arguing regulatory delays have created infrastructure bottlenecks that drive up prices for consumers. -------- Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube Weekdays 7am-6pm ET Saturday & Sunday 7am-10am ET WATCH HERE: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF Follow us on X: / bloombergradio Subscribe to our Podcasts: Bloomberg Daybreak: http://bit.ly/3DWYoAN Bloomberg Surveillance: htt…
Senator Armstrong hosted an event with cross-sector industry leaders, multiple Members of Congress, and Oklahoma Governor ...
In this episode of American Potential, host David From sits down with U.S. Senator Alan Armstrong to discuss one of the biggest barriers to American growth: the broken permitting process. Drawing on decades of experience in the energy industry, Senator Armstrong explains how excessive regulation, legal challenges, and bureaucratic overlap have made it nearly impossible to build critical infrastructure—even when projects are already completed. From billion-dollar pipelines being shut down to states blocking interstate energy projects, he highlights the real-world consequences for energy cost…
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Alan Armstrong.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →