The NAM Talks Permitting Reform on Ballard Spahr Podcast

With the tax policy table set thanks to last summer’s H.R. 1—the landmark tax law that the NAM helped deliver—”now is the time to enact durable permitting reform,” NAM Senior Director of Energy and Resources Policy Mike Davin said on a podcast recently.

The importance of permitting reform: “It’s up to us in the manufacturing industry to start to use the resources that Congress and this administration have given us and put shovels in the ground.”

• The path to that goal is paved by permitting reform, said Davin in an interview this month on law firm Ballard Spahr’s “Business Better” podcast.
• To build infrastructure, create jobs and expand operations, manufacturers must navigate complex and often onerous federal permitting requirements.

The problem: Many of “these historic statutes have not been updated in decades. And so they don’t take into account the modern economy … [or] improvements” in technology that have been made, Davin told show host Brendan Collins, a partner in Ballard Spahr’s environment and natural resources group.

• In the United States, it takes “80% longer to go through a permitting process than it does [in] a comparable, free market economy [elsewhere in] the world,” Davin continued. “China’s not waiting that long to permit their mines, to process materials. They are going full speed ahead.”

A bipartisan effort: But there are moves underway in both houses of Congress to speed up that process, Davin said.

• With Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) “working together, there is a desire to get a deal” on permitting reform, Davin said. They recognize “that permitting reform is not just for oil and gas. It’s also for renewable energy. It’s also for transmission. It’s also for boosting energy infrastructure—not just pipelines, but wires.”
• On the House side, late last year, Reps. Bruce Westerman (R-AK) and Jared Golden (D-ME) led efforts to advance a bipartisan permitting reform bill, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act.

Affordability: In an election year and with inflation still far above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, “everyone’s talking about energy affordability and being able to keep energy prices low or at least within reason,” Davin went on.

• “We’ve seen international events in the Middle East impact energy prices. There are ongoing debates about data centers. … So we think now’s the time for Congress to really seize the opportunity. If they do want to address energy affordability, permitting reform is key to doing that.”