One of the reasons this job has been so invigorating for me is because it is so hard. It's very challenging. And folks like John Barrasso just constantly kind of laughs at me because he sees how frustrated I am. It's like he says, 'Alan, you got everything figured out with the politics?'
Nine months, one legislative mission, and no re-election campaign. That was the unusual assignment facing Oklahoma Senator Alan Armstrong when he filled the vacancy left by Homeland Security Secretary. 40 years ago, Armstrong joined the Williams Companies as a design engineer automating aging natural gas compressor stations. He would spend nearly four decades at the Tulsa energy company, 14 years as CEO, leading a business that handles roughly 1/3 of America's natural gas. So, to address the nation's energy appetite, he introduced the most comprehensive permitting reform proposal in history. He's all in because he knows the clock is ticking.
From Ballard Studios in the nation's capital, it's 13th and Park. I never dreamed going into the White House you'd risk your freedom. We in Congress will act together when we have to act. They deserve better and we owe them some results. I believe this country's best days continue to remain ahead. I had no idea the monster we unleashed. I play every night AND PEOPLE LOVE IT. THEY'RE GOING BERSERK. I don't have any Emmy Awards behind me yet, but you know, I'm sure they're coming. I'm so glad to be here on 13th and Park.
So, before we started this program, you and I started talking about Oklahoma. I happen to have a little Oklahoma in my past, too, when I went out there years and years ago to try to help a very popular former halfback, All-American halfback Ron Shots, running for governor. And I remember coming into Oklahoma City, and I wanted to fit in, right? Senator, so I'm like a dude from the East. So, I come into the office the first day. I have a cowboy hat on, a cowboy hat, right? I've got boots, I've got the bolero, I've got the. And everyone's dressed kind of casually. They look at me like, 'Oh my god, this is.'
Who are you trying to be?
That's too good. Right. So, you had understated completely a windfall of a journey coming from your happy at the Williams companies where you'd been for a long time, become CEO and chairman, and and you get this call from the governor. You probably thought, 'Okay, governor wants something. I'm sure I can help. Sure the company can help.' And the next thing you know, he's asking you the question, right? Take us back.
I had retired from the CEO job in July 1 of '25, and I was executive chairman, and you know, I'd been CEO for a long time. So, probably the most compelling thing to me was Governor Stitt has been somebody that has always done what he thought was right for the state, even when it's to his own detriment. He's been a very courageous leader. So, it felt pretty weak to say, 'Ah, this is going to be an inconvenience for me. I don't really want to do what's right for the country or for the state if you're asking me to.' So, honestly, it it really was about trying to do the right thing for our state and for the country. In fact, my first reaction to him was I'm pretty sure I can find another person.
Right. I'll help you find somebody better.
I really just thought, 'Wow, I bet you we can find somebody better.' But, his focus was on permitting reform, and that had been part of his campaign as head of the National Governors Association. And so, my call actually was around people that were in the know whether there was actually a chance that we could get something done on permitting reform, and I wasn't looking for a 'Hey, sure you can.' I was just looking for 'Is there even a chance?'
Yeah, but you went from the first meeting I think with the governor who called you to Oklahoma City to he's saying, 'Hey, join me in Florida.' You probably knew what that meant, right? Next thing you know, you're down meeting with the President of the United States. And I think it was the day after, right? The decision was made, you come up to Washington, Senator Grassley swears you in. I mean, you talk about a whirlwind tour.
It went really fast. Yeah. So, the first discussion with the governor was probably 3 weeks ahead of that swearing in. And I just I hadn't really heard from him and really kind of just assumed that that, you know, things had moved on on that. And then I got a call, 'Can you be in in Florida tomorrow?' So, yeah, when it finally moved, it moved very rapidly.
So, what did Shelley and the kids think? I mean, as this is all happening, right?
Yeah, you know, the first thing she said like the 3 week before when I got asked was like, 'Are you crazy? No way. Finally, I was about to start to have some time with you. And now and now you're going to go do this.' So, so that wasn't very popular at home, but Senator Mary Landrieu, I'd been working with on permitting reform while I was at the corporation and had been working with her and she'd been a really good advisor on how to try to bring moderate Dems along with the idea of permitting reform and the importance of permitting reform to people's utility prices. And she. Shelley heard the conversation I had with with Senator Landrieu and that kind of actually turned Shelley on it.
Yeah. So, that was good. So,
She didn't call ahead and get back to you right away?
So, let's get into, yeah, permitting reform. So, you you're in a very unique position. Yeah, you get a 9-month term where you can really go after it. And you're really singularly focused on this idea of permitting reform. So, first let's talk about it in layman's terms, what it is. And let's talk about the implications of permitting reform if we do something and if we don't.
Okay, well, you know, the term permitting reform people start to go to sleep about the time you get reform out of your mouth. My My daughter, one of my daughters, three daughters, one of them asked me this weekend, 'Dad, how many times in the last 9 months do you think you've used the word permitting reform?' Cuz you were talking about it before while you were at Williams and now you're talking about it all the time. And I do think people kind of start to gloss over because they don't really connect it to why are my utility bills so much higher? If you actually look at particularly places like the Northeast, people want to just, you know, completely lose their mind over gasoline prices, but our utility bills have actually gone up considerably faster than gasoline prices have been over that same 5-year period. But I think, you know, for for the general public to understand, everybody always feels really good when we stop something these days, whether it's a data center or it's a pipeline or it's a transmission line, it's a mine that is actually, you know, extracting critical minerals. We've kind of gotten into this mindset as Americans that we don't need to build stuff in our backyard. Need to do it somewhere else. And we're great builders. And we are we we we our country is great because of the great critical infrastructure that the people ahead of us built. And we've gone from that mentality to well, can't they just build that somewhere else? Why would they Why do we need to build that here? And listen, it's highways even. You know, it's gotten really long and expensive to build a highway. Kind of everywhere you turn right now, people are digging their heels in against building infrastructure, but they take for granted all the great things that we have and all the things we enjoy that come from years and years and years of building out infrastructure in our in our country.
I'm sure you've met and spoken with the energy secretary Chris Wright.
He was on the show. He was fascinating. Great guy. And he he told. Very articulate. He's amazing. He's really good. Central casting, right? So, he told us about this experience he had when he went out to Boulder, Colorado, made some kind of presentation, and he was being protested, and he walked right up to the protesters, engaged them in conversation, and by the end of it the protesters were giving them their names and addresses. They wanted a job in the energy department. And the reason is, he said, 'Do you understand why we're doing this stuff? Let me at least tell you what why we're doing it, and then you can disagree.' And when they found out what the end goal was, they were like all in. So, isn't that what permanent reform is that once Americans are educated about what will it take to moderate utility bills, what will it take to control our own critical assets? They very quickly say, 'Okay, well, that makes sense, right?'
I think that's true. I You know, I think the the latest version of it, though, is certainly data centers and, you know, people connecting that. And boy, they've been great scapegoats. You know, really, really good scapegoats for higher utility bills cuz we've got to blame it on something other than our own politics. But, I think the biggest concern I have, in fact, I got to speak to a number of governors at the National Governors Association last week. My concern is that this has moved from just kind of a few people, you know, they get paid to protest, to almost a cultural thing of, 'Gosh, it's really easy and cool to block stuff.' That's the piece that I really want to bring home in the public messaging on this is the benefits that we enjoy as Americans and the strength of our nation didn't come from people standing in the way of progress in our country. The cost when things get built and somebody blocks a big project, it's certainly resulting in higher consumer prices. And it's usually resulting in higher emissions as well. If you can't build a gas pipeline for instance, the alternative is to continue to burn fuel oil for power generation. The Northeast, which has been the area that's done more to block gas pipelines than about anywhere in the country besides California, has the highest emissions for power generation of anywhere in the lower 48 in the US. Not only are we continuing to burn fuel oil for heating homes, which is 10 times more expensive on a BTU basis than natural gas.
