If our politicians care about affordability, they will pass permitting reform

Originally published: September 1, 2026

Affordability is Americans’ #1 election issue this year

In an August national poll, Americans asked to name their top election issue named affordability (“inflation and the cost of living”) more than the other 3 most popular issues combined!¹

The #1 thing elected officials can do for affordability is permitting reform

The only lasting path to affordability is for the supply of energy, housing, and other goods to increase faster than demand. Permitting delays strangle supply, leading to unnecessarily high prices.

According to McKinsey, there is up to $1.5 trillion in American infrastructure awaiting federal approval, including power plants, pipelines, and factories that could be lowering prices.²

What reforms need to happen

Reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—America’s most litigated environmental law—are needed to prevent activists and judges from tying up price-lowering energy projects.

• In recent years NEPA Environmental Impact Statements have delayed major projects by an average of 2.6 years, and years of further delay can be added by litigation.³

Reforms to the Clean Water Act—which is abused to stop natural gas pipelines that pose no threat to water quality—are needed to lower prices.

• Thanks in large part to inadequate pipeline capacity, the average wholesale price of natural gas in New England last winter was 54% higher than the national average. If New England paid the same natural gas prices as the rest of the country a typical household would save more than $500 a year.⁴

Permitting certainty reforms are necessary to stop cancellations of already-permitted projects.

• Permitting uncertainty kills known price-lowering projects like Keystone XL, but also stops investors from funding countless price-lowering projects due to political risk.

Reforms to the Federal Power Act are necessary to make it easier to build electric transmission lines that lower prices and harder for monopoly utilities to build wasteful transmission.

• Wasteful transmission lines are a leading driver of rising electricity prices.⁵

Permitting reform needs to happen now

After years of failed permitting reform efforts, a great bipartisan deal is finally within reach. The House has passed good reforms, the Senate is deep into negotiations, and Senate Majority Leader Thune has said he will put a deal on the floor as soon as it is ready. A failure now will lock in higher prices for years.

Tell Representatives and Senators running for reelection that they will only get your vote if they do everything they can to pass comprehensive permitting reform this Congress—preferably in September.

President Trump has a major role to play in permitting reform

If President Trump supports permitting reform that includes NEPA, Clean Water Act, permitting certainty, and transmission, he can broker the economic deal of the century—and make American industry great again.

Many of the permitting reforms Congress is now working on were made by the first Trump administration, reversed by the Biden administration, then restored by the current administration.

The only way Trump and Congress can leave a lasting legacy is for Congress to pass permitting reform now.

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