Thanks, everybody, for joining Senator Armstrong's official event on permitting reform. Great to see so many folks in the room who are committed to this issue. We have a great program today. So without any further ado, I'm going to turn it over to my boss, Senator Armstrong. Great. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. Chris Christie has done an incredible job, and Miranda has done an incredible job pulling this together. And so, thank you all very much for such a nice job.
You know, I say often, when I'm here in the Senate, I always get the question of what surprises me. And I think the thing that is most shocking to me is how much incredible talent there is that supports the Senate, supports the staff. It's also surprising to me that we can get this little done with this much talent. But I'm here to prove that wrong and to actually get something done on permitting. So I want to thank everybody for being here today. This conversation on permitting reform is really critical to America's competitive future. We have gotten here today because we are a country that has always been builders. The tide has turned. We've reached a point where we've consumed our capacity, and it's time we absolutely take on permitting reform if we want to remain a great country. This is my single and sole mission in my time in the Senate. The group here today is amazing. We've got people from the energy supply side, all forms of energy supply, infrastructure developers, manufacturing, construction, and labor representatives. They know front and center how much permitting problems hold things up. It's fantastic to have such a broad spectrum of energy here. I think it is one of the most important things about this gathering today. When I was on the industry side, my argument was that we can't complain about partisan issues if we as an industry don't speak with one voice. We are finally seeing that, and I think that is the reason I get the question, why is it different this time? I do think that industry coming together and speaking together is extremely important and is going to make the difference for our country. This is the single bipartisan issue being considered by Congress right now that can add the most value. It doesn't cost money to get this right; it just adds value, adds jobs, and makes our country more competitive. The stakes are really important. The challenge is straightforward: we have to make sure that as demand for electricity grows, we aren't constrained but have abundance. This is the time we get this done. I want to recognize Governor Stitt, who has seen this from day one and has been a great leader in Oklahoma. He has made permitting reform one of his primary efforts. The bad news is that as a country, we can't be our best if we can't build long-haul linear infrastructure. Hats off to Governor Stitt for making Oklahoma competitive, but we can't stop there. I also want to thank my Senate and House colleagues: Senator Daines, Senator Barrasso, Senator Lummis, Senator Murkowski, Senator Welch, Congressman Balderson, Congressman Collins, Congressman Miller-Meeks, Congressman Stauber, and many others. I appreciate the relationships I've been able to build with House members. The House has done great work on permitting, addressing every critical issue. It's time for the Senate to come together and push this forward. I also want to recognize our industry panel today: Ray Long from A Core representing renewables, Brandon Ferris from the Steel Manufacturers Association, Michael Carr from the solar industry, and Karen Harbert from the American Gas Association. This broad sector is what's different about what we're convening today. We need more energy, more manufacturing, more critical minerals, and more transmission. This bill is focused on NEPA and addressing issues for the broad industry, but also includes mining concerns. It is a very broad-based approach to addressing our permitting system, not just about pipelines. The bill introduction addresses all issues, including courts that have vacated certificates. The value of getting permitting reform done is almost incalculable because of the capital sitting on the sidelines. It's hard to calculate because so many projects never make it forward. From my own personal perspective, I took this role on at the request of Governor Stitt because I believe it is incredibly important to our country and our kids. I look at my four-year-old grandson and remember how important it is to get this done for his benefit. There is a lot of detail in the bill; this is not a messaging bill. Your support is incredibly important. Please don't underestimate the power of your voice in pushing for permitting reform. In closing, we as a country are blessed with resources, an economy, and a legal system that allows people to invest here. The rest of the world depends on us freeing up our resources. The only thing standing in the way is connecting sources of energy with sources of demand. If we don't do that, we'll look back in 10 or 15 years and wonder how we lost our competitive edge. This is not a sexy issue, but it is an absolutely systemic issue. So please do your part in raising your voice. With that, I'm going to turn it over. Senator Daines, any comments? Thank you.
Well, now you see what a great addition Senator Armstrong is to the United States Senate. We are so grateful to have you here. Thank you for your service. Truly. We share a couple of things in common. We both came from the private sector. We're both engineers, and we both have 40... well, grandsons. I just found out as well. And so, he's just been a tremendous asset to the United States Senate with his problem-solving ability and bringing real-world perspective to this body. I just want to share one additional thought, and that is why this is so important: it relates to global competitiveness. I just took my seventh congressional visit to China about a month ago. In fact, I was in Shanghai and Beijing the week before President Trump was in Beijing with his bilateral meetings with Xi Jinping and, of course, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Bezzant. He had Ambassador Greer with him. I had five U.S. senators bipartisan in Shanghai and then Beijing. We had some similar meetings. But just step back for a moment and think about this. 20 years ago, the installed electrical capacity in this country was about parity with China. They grew their capacity by nearly three times over the last 20 years. We grew ours by less than 20%. So today, China's installed capacity for electricity is two and a half times greater than the United States. This is about speed. My takeaway from my last visit is that we've got to go faster, and part of going faster is embracing what Senator Armstrong just talked about in terms of permitting reform. When you're in a race, the fastest wins the race. So I'm grateful for what you are doing here. This is not just only about energy; it's also about critical minerals. This is absolutely so important to us. Look what the Chinese did last year by stopping magnets and critical minerals, which they control most of the world's critical mineral production. What Senator Armstrong is doing is making sure that we continue to now catch up by going faster. We're going to have a hard time slowing China down, but we can control the knob on speed. And that's why this permitting reform crusade that Senator Armstrong is leading is so important. It's why I support you, Senator Armstrong, and thank you for your great remarks.
Well, thank you very much, Alan, for hosting this. I knew as soon as you got here and you said this was your only priority, your most important priority, that we were going to get a lot of work out of you on this particular issue. Great to see my friend Troy Balderson here from the House. I'm John Newstead. I am the junior senator from Ohio by two weeks; Bernie Moreno beat me. But I just want to say this: permitting reform is affordability. Understand that perfectly. Being for permitting reform is to be for affordability, about making everything more affordable because energy is an input cost to everything. If you make it harder for people to build things, you make it more expensive, and that ultimately gets passed on to consumers. It makes us less competitive, makes things more expensive, and makes life harder on working families. So anybody who opposes permitting reform is basically saying, 'I don't care about those families, I don't care whether they pay more for the products and services they need.' And we know this from your own life. Take a simple example. I was on a website a few weeks ago trying to order something. This particular company made it hard to do. So I'm a busy person, so guess what happened? They didn't get my purchase. The more friction you create, the less likely something is to happen. And permitting is friction. It takes time, takes money, and it makes it harder for us to compete, as Senator Daines talked about. So I just leave this one thought for you: if you want affordability, then you've got to be for permitting reform. That's how we make life more affordable, that's how we make America more competitive, and we've got to get this done. Thank you very much.
So, and my good friend Senator Murkowski, who's been after this permitting issue for a long time. Thank you for joining us.
Alan Armstrong, thank you for your leadership on this. I have said multiple times, we've been talking about permitting reform for ages, generations. People are nodding their heads. We've been talking about it for a long time, and we've all been talking about the priority of it. Many of us have been engaged in different iterations of it. And Alan Armstrong comes into the Senate and, as you have heard, is like, 'I am a man on a mission. I got one thing that I want to do, and I have very limited time.' The fact that you all are crowded in this room today is evidence of some of the momentum that I thank you, Senator Armstrong, have helped lead to coalesce, to recognize that so much of this is about timing. I don't think there's anybody out there who questions whether or not we need to do a better job when it comes to permitting. We know we need to do it. I don't care whether you are an oil and gas person or a renewables person or the person who's trying to develop a real estate property, everybody is recognizing that our system slows down. What is it we need to be doing? When we talk about 'we'll get to it later,' to the point that was just made by Senator who said, it's like, everything is costing us more, it's slowing us down. So why have we not moved the needle on this? We are at that point. I think maybe it's just that sweet spot where folks on both sides of the energy argument, renewables versus fossil, or people that are resource developers or want to advance economic opportunities within their region, are all coming together and saying, 'Hey, I got this problem.' Those of us that have been working on the energy side have said, 'Welcome to my world. This is what we've been dealing with.' But we are at that moment that I think it's time to seize it. We're kind of a poster child in Alaska of being that place where we have a lot of great resource, whether it's critical minerals, oil, gas, we've got it all. But our challenge is that every project, every single project, every permit is challenged. When you think about that challenge, the delays, the lawsuits that come to it, that adds to the cost. When we're talking about projects within our National Petroleum Reserve, an area reserved for oil and gas development, or what we're trying to do with critical minerals in the Ambler area, whose approval has been mandated in federal law for 46 years now, and we still are struggling to get the permits there. We've got a project out in southwest Alaska, a 10,000-page document that was completed back in 2018, and we're still trying to work to get the permits for these mines. This says we got a problem, folks. It's up to us here in the Congress, in the Senate, in the House, on a bipartisan basis, to move this needle to get this done. And thank you for making this kind of magic happen. Thank you very much.
And another person that has been a great encourager since the day I walked into the Senate and has been a great partner on this is Senator Lummis. So Senator Lummis.
What a breath of fresh air it is to have Senator Armstrong join us for these eight months or so, because he's sort of giving us the impetus to get this thing done, as you've heard from multiple people in both parties. Permitting reform is something that vexes all of us. What is so great about having Senator Armstrong really roll up his sleeves and take this on is that as the head of the Williams Company, he has direct boots-on-the-ground experience with all these issues. He knows what permitting does to delays, to costs, to the ability to do things in America that you can do easier elsewhere. So your expertise, your talents, and what you garnered from all those decades at the Williams Company is things we can all use. Some of us are theorists; we're not practitioners. You're a practitioner. So you know what works and what doesn't work on the ground. What doesn't work for any of us is voluminous documents that are so heavy you have to put them up on a shelf and they make the shelf sag, and they get no further scrutiny because it's just paperwork. It's not real boots on the ground. Let's protect consumers, let's protect the environment, and let's build. We can do all those things, but we can't do them if we pile up paperwork unnecessarily. I'm just so thrilled you're here and that you took this on, and I am with you. I want to be your wingman, and we all want to help you succeed. Thank you.
And now I'm very excited to introduce Senator Welch here as well. Also somebody that from day one said, 'Wow, this is really important and I'm glad you're here.' And it certainly means a lot to me from somebody coming from the other side of the aisle. So, Senator Welch, thank you very much for being here. Thank you.
All right. Alan, thank you. But we're going to keep something on the down low here. I'm a Democrat. I think I'm in the right room, but, you know, Alan, here's why permit reform is so important. We want to be a country that builds things. We have fights and battles about climate issues, about what's the right fuel source, about where projects should go, but let's have those and get them ended and resolved so that we can make a decision, yes or no, and move on. So what you're seeing, and I am the only Democrat here, I guess, so far. But Alan, we have a lot of Democrats who have been leading: Senator Hickenlooper, Senator Heinrich, Senator Whitehouse, and those of us who have hope that we can have clean energy as a big part of the mix, as China does. We've got to get transmission lines established. We've got to be able to transmit electricity, and we should be spending our time not just fighting projects, but building projects. And that's what the change has been. I'll give you a Vermont example that's not in the macro scene of big energy policy. We love our bike paths. In the town of Shelburne, they want to build a two-mile bike path. There's a categorical exemption for bike paths under NEPA, but in order to prove you can get the categorical exemption, you've got to go through NEPA. So both sides here can share some responsibility for where we're at, but we've got to accept the responsibility to get to where we jointly want to go. That is to be able to get an answer, yes or no, sooner rather than later, with much less expense. It is not about doing an end run around the environment that all of us care about. It's not about doing an end run around fair labor standards that all of us care about, workers' safety. It's about making the decision sooner rather than later, and not using litigation as a tool that can be used by anybody whose interest is separate from a fair consideration of the project at hand. So, Alan, thank you. I'm really proud to be here with my friends from Wyoming, and the most popular senator here in the United States of America is speaking next. So thank you all very much.
Okay. Well, I guess you got introduced. So, our Whip Barrasso, who every time I started studying permitting and the history of what all been, his name is on everything. So don't need to explain to him what we're trying to accomplish. But I really appreciate your support and you being here today. Well, thank you.
And we are so delighted that you pulled this incredible group together. So happy to have you in the United States Senate with a single focus, because a lot of people here aren't focused. You're focused like a laser beam. Most senators are focused kind of like a disco ball, shining all over the place, and focused on permitting, which is the purpose of this. I agree with Peter, he is actually the most popular Democrat senator in the country, and it's because he speaks common sense as he did right now. We all want to be able to build things faster, better, cheaper, smarter. I have an op-ed in today's Washington Post, stunning that they actually printed it, about what the Hoover Dam shows about energy bills today and how millions of Americans rightly worry about the strained electric grids and the higher energy bills that result from rising demand. Yet many projects that would help lower energy costs remain frozen for years by federal reviews before anyone can even break ground. That's what you're working on, and we're all committed to you. Take a look at some of these rules and regulations. What do we know? They're burdensome, expensive, and time-consuming. And what else do we know? The benefits are theoretical, unproven, and exaggerated. NEPA fits right into that. Richard Nixon signed it; he was a Republican, and it took on a life of its own. It became a Magna Carta that was used also as a bludgeon. It's supposed to be a little bit of a stick and a carrot; it turned out differently. Finally, the Supreme Court got it right last year. They said NEPA has become a blunt and haphazard tool employed by project opponents to try to stop or at least slow down new infrastructure or construction projects. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, we want to be able to get things done, and that's why we're here, that's why we're supportive. The New York Times had a story last year, and it talked about the demands for energy that are increasing. All energy. We need it all, and we need these projects built. The headline was that to get to the amount of energy we need five years from now is like adding an entire new California to the grid, because the data centers, the demands are dramatic. I'm just so proud to be here with you, standing with you, partnering with you. And we do this in a bipartisan way. When Joe Manchin and I were working together in the Energy Committee, we got a bill through the committee 15 to 4. One Democrat voted against it, Bernie Sanders. Three Republicans voted against it. But we have a great functional program that we can do in a bipartisan way. So thanks for being here, and thanks to all of you for what you're doing for us. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. Congressman Balderson, if you'd have some words you like to say. No. Okay. All right. Congressman, Representative Collins, how about you? Okay? Come on.
For a long time ago... No, thank you, Senator. I appreciate you having us over here today. You know, I was thinking about what to talk about. First of all, I'm from over in the House. I'm sure y'all know that by now. I thought it was kind of funny that when we rounded the corner, it's usually quiet over here, but this room was very loud and people were excited. You can tell that I'm chairman of the Water Resource and Environment subcommittee over on Transportation and Infrastructure, also sit on Natural Resources with Stauber. So I'm responsible for the Clean Water Act. As many of you know, we sent over the Permit Act this time around, and it was bipartisan. I don't mind doing that. I enjoy going and talking to anybody. I tell folks all the time, I'll be up for a dog if you'll bark for my policy. So we did, and we got this over here sent over in a bipartisan fashion. I think that's important because this is one of the senators was mentioned a few minutes ago. For those of you who don't know me, I'm in the private sector. I've been in trucking for 30 plus years, so I've been beat on like many of you out there all my life with regulations and taxes. But I came up here because I felt that our federal government agencies are just so inefficient and unproductive, and you never get anything done. I want to leave you with three quick stories, and I'll be done. I've had people in my office from different walks of life. Had a power company executive come in, and we were talking, and I was like, man, we got more natural gas under this earth than you can ever get rid of. Why don't you build a generating facility? His first comment was, 'Mike, I would, but it'll take me over ten years to get the permits just to lay the pipeline.' So there's a problem there. If you can't get more electricity on the grid because you can't get the permits. Russell McMurry from Georgia DOT was in my office. He said, 'Collins, I'm going to tell you something. The average road project takes ten years. We go seven and a half years fighting permits to get a two and a half year buildout.' That doesn't make common sense. So we're addressing that in the Clean Water Act. We also have my district is very, very rural. A lot of small towns, and you probably know what I'm going to say. The water treatment facility plants in many of those small towns are bursting at the seams. When economic growth happens, they can't participate because it'll take them ten years to get a permit. So they miss that growth. All we did was just take this little old Clean Water Act, didn't change any water regulations, but just sped that up and made sure that the EPA gives you a quicker answer, and the lawsuits are settled in a timely basis. Senator, it's great. I appreciate you picking this up. This is probably one of the biggest pieces of important legislation that I feel is out there right now that we can get across the line and get on the president's desk and let him sign this. You do that, oh man, this place will be humming like a sewing machine once we do that. So thank you for having us. Thank you.
All right. Representative Miller-Meeks, who's also from the days of industry to today, it's nice to transition relationship. And she's been a great leader on this. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Well, Senator Armstrong, thank you. From a podium that's not built for giants. So it's wonderful to be here with you today. Thank you so much, Senator Armstrong. Let me also say, my mom is from Oklahoma. Your leadership on permitting reform has been exactly what we need. You came into office with a clear vision, a willingness to work across the aisle and across the Capitol, and the conviction to make permitting reform your core priority. That kind of focus is rare. I'm an ophthalmologist, so I know all about focus. It's admirable. We all understand the problem. America is falling further and further behind our adversaries. Heck, we're almost further behind in Europe, and that's saying a lot. We're failing to build energy, housing, and the basic infrastructure that powers our economic engine. And this isn't new.
This is a longstanding dysfunction that we've simply lacked the political will and momentum to fix after last Congress's failed attempt. And in the face of renewed and urgent understanding of why it matters, why we must ensure manufacturing, ensure energy security, and revitalize our critical mineral industry, I believe Congress finally has the right leadership to put together a durable, bipartisan, bicameral package. The ingredients are there. Senator Armstrong is proof of that, as well as the amazing work by Chairman Westerman in passing the Speed Act. When I talked to businesses back home in Iowa or throughout the country, I hear the same thing over and over certainty. They don't need the government to pick winners. They need to know that the rules won't be thrown out every four years. We have to end the normalization of this massive pendulum swings. When administrations change, businesses can't invest. Whether that's a domestic business or an international business. They can't plan, they can't build when the ground is always shifting beneath them. Real reform, dual reform addresses that and that. That reform has to address real bottlenecks, judicial review, timelines that drag projects for a decade. Clean Water Act permitting, that bogs down projects of every kind, and aging and insufficient transmission infrastructure that is holding back an energy revolution that both sides of the aisle say that they want. A permitting system that works should be technology neutral. It should be geared towards getting things built, not towards stopping them, not towards stacking regulatory barriers on top of regulatory barriers. I want to speak for a moment about Iowa, because I think it's instructive. Iowa has always been an energy state. I know that you in Oklahoma disagree with that, but I was been an energy, straight, smart, bipartisan policy has put us ahead. Today, 50% of our energy is renewable wind accounts for roughly 60% of Iowa's electricity generation, and our rates are some of the most affordable in the country. We are a net energy exporter. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because we created conditions that allowed investment to flow and projects to get built. What worked for Iowa should work for the entire country. And what we agreed to here in this room needs to apply to the entire country, not just in states that move fast, but everywhere. America is blessed with extraordinary abundance of natural resources. We should use them. And here's the thing when we build here, it is cleaner, it is safer, and there are better labor practices than virtually anywhere. Choosing not to build doesn't protect the environment, it just exports the emissions and the jobs elsewhere. Choosing not to build doesn't lower energy prices. It just means maintains them. At the current rates, we can maintain strong environmental standards and get things built. The goals those goals are not in conflict. America's competitiveness depends on our ability to construct the infrastructure of the future. The transmission lines, the pipelines, the manufacturing facilities, the housing. Now there is an Armstrong that was the first person to walk on the moon, and I think it's going to be another Armstrong that finally gets permitting reform done here in Washington, DC. Let's make sure we do that. Thank you so much.
All right. Challenge has been set there. Thank you very much for those inspiring words. And Representative Stauber, please.
Senator, thanks for giving me this opportunity. Your legacy can be this permitting reform. I think that you have been laser focused. And for you to assemble this group of people with a common voice in permitting reform is commendable. I'm Representative Pete Stauber. I represent Minnesota's eighth congressional district. The eighth congressional district contains the Iron Range, where we've mined iron ore for 146 years. That make 80 plus percent of this nation's steel as that iron. Iron ore turned into pellets, leaves Duluth, Superior Harbor. It's all blood, sweat and tears of the of the Iron Range, the Union Iron Range workers that are sending that taconite down bone to make steel. We also have what we call the biggest copper nickel find in the world, the Duluth complex. As Senator Murkowski says, there's only one state that has more mineral wealth than Minnesota, and that's Alaska. What an opportunity we have. This is a bipartisan issue of permitting reform for everything. For those of us who live in the northern climates, when you have somebody that's opposing a project and they start in late August, early September, guess what? In Minnesota you stop that project and then guess what? The ground freezes. So we have to get into the second construction year, which is time and money for the taxpayers. What an opportunity we have. And I want to break something up. There might be an elephant in the room. It's called judicial review because we've had record. You've seen it, we've had record of decisions. And three years later you're getting sued on that record, a decision just before that project is ready to go. Our industries, we have the capability to do this. We have the workers, we have the industry that wants to come here to the United States of America, come here to Minnesota and Oklahoma and Alaska and you name it, to build. But when they look at the permitting, timelines and timeframes, isn't it sad when industry and particularly the mining industry, they have to put into their years a process judicial review, they have to put in lawsuit time, lawsuit time, 3 to 5 years to seven years. Are you kidding me? We do it better than anybody. We have the best environmental and labor standards in the world. We can do it. We have to have the political will to do it. And, Senator, you have a lot of support not only in the Senate but in the House as the I sit on the Natural Resources Committee and Transportation and Infrastructure, it's all about permitting. So you are leading a charge. You have a lot of followers behind you. And in this room as well. We you have to have the political will to do this. Let's get it done. There's going to be some pushback, but this is going to be for all industries, from housing to building bridges to mining to pipelines to oil and gas, to wind and solar, to geothermal. What an opportunity the United States has. And I'm a senator. I'm committed. I'm wholeheartedly behind you on this. And we're going to get it done before you leave. Let's get it done. Thank you very much. Thank you.
These guys are getting me fired up. Let's go. And and finally, the the person that's given me this opportunity to take on this fight, Governor Stitt from Oklahoma, who I is also the president, National Governors Association and has just done a fantastic job of being a leader in our country, somebody very principled and frankly, somebody that I look to, to, to, think about what really good political leadership looks like. So, Governor Stitt, please.
