Jul 21, 2025 Coalition Letter RE: Oversight hearing titled “Permitting Purgatory: Restoring Common Sense to NEPA Reviews.”
Dear Chairman Westerman:
…Reforming the nation’s outdated permitting system is critical to bolstering energy security, growing jobs, and building much-needed energy infrastructure to support the projected energy demands of our country in the coming years. According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as of 2022 it took an average of five years for an energy infrastructure project to move from initial permitting to operation, more than double the time it took in 2000. Compounding these delays, Stanford University reports that nearly 30% of major energy and infrastructure projects requiring an environmental impact statement face predevelopment litigation, often based on meritless or duplicative claims under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). These lawsuits have become a tool to delay or price projects out of existence. Delays discourage investment and threaten our energy security. Many projects take even longer or are ultimately cancelled as funding is lost, or companies decide to invest in regions with more stable and predictable permitting regimes.
As your committee begins the heavy lift of holding oversight hearings and developing legislation, we recommend the principles that form the foundation of strong energy development be prioritized. Permitting reform should:
- Define clear agency permitting approval processes
- Streamline interagency coordination of reviews
- Ensure cost certainties and reliable timetables
- Place reasonable limits on environmental reviews
- Prohibit project approvals from being slowed for political purposes
- Prevent obstructionist protests intended to indefinitely halt projects
- Set clear guidelines for judicial reviews and corrective actions. …
