Alan Armstrong on permitting reform
From Why America can’t build the natural gas pipelines it needs, with Senator Alan Armstrong · · ImproveThePlanet
“There's three primary things. First is you have if you look through the list of pipeline projects that have either been stopped in court or stopped by a state, it's almost always been the 401 water quality certificate at the heart of what we call the handles. The second thing though is the judicial standards that we've been talking about and move it to where somebody has to have clear and compelling evidence that you're actually going to harm the environment through the method. And then finally, getting to a no vacature rule so that a court if an agency is issued a certificate that a court doesn't have the rights to just turn around and pull a certificate from an operating company after the project's already in service.”
On , Alan Armstrong, Executive Chairman of the Board at Williams Companies Inc, spoke about permitting reform during Why America can’t build the natural gas pipelines it needs, with Senator Alan Armstrong on ImproveThePlanet.
About Alan Armstrong
Alan Armstrong resigned as executive chairman of Williams Companies after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt appointed him to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin, who left to become Secretary of Homeland Security. Armstrong will serve until January 2027 and, under state law, cannot run for a full term. He has described his appointment as a unique opportunity to focus on long-term policy issues without the pressures of reelection. Since taking office, Armstrong has made permitting reform for energy infrastructure his primary legislative priority. He has said that the United States has become "the hardest place I can imagine to be able to build critical infrastructure" and that the country "cannot get out of our own way" on such projects. He has argued that permitting delays separate abundant domestic energy supplies from consumers, driving up costs, and that the problem is driven less by federal agencies than by litigation from environmental groups and state-level abuse of Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certifications. Armstrong has opposed removing the federal gas tax as a short-term fix, calling it "like putting a glove on to fix a leaky pin," and has instead advocated for streamlining the permitting process to allow construction of pipelines such as the proposed Western Gateway and the long-stalled Constitution pipeline in New York. He has said he supports "all of the above" energy sources but does not support subsidies, and that permitting reform should not make decisions about fuel choices.