Permitting reform can finally unleash American energy

OPINION:

Every Republican in Washington has promised to “unleash” American energy. Unleash it from what, exactly? Here is what. Say you run a natural gas company and want to build a pipeline that would save families thousands of dollars. You secure the right of way, raise the capital and sign the contracts.

Then you wait four years for an environmental review hundreds of pages long. It comes back clean.

The week your crews break ground, a group you have never heard of sues, claiming that the study missed something. Under current law, they have six years to file. Years later, you have won your case and can finally proceed with the project.

By then your financing window has closed, your construction contracts have lapsed and your permits have expired.

This is not hypothetical. It is happening across the country. Radical environmental groups want to keep fossil fuels in the ground through a regulatory stranglehold, blocking the nation’s ability to build, meet its growing energy needs and slash energy costs.

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 ends this racket. It tackles some of the biggest roadblocks for all energy sources. The Wall Street Journal concluded that oil and gas “stand to benefit the most” because permitting has been weaponized against them so aggressively.

The bill is a long-overdue, generational win for American energy production. It is also the piece that turns core pillars of President Trump’s energy-dominance agenda from a stack of strong executive orders into the law of the land.

In 2024, under President Biden, the Bureau of Land Management took an average of 305 days to process a routine drilling permit. Meanwhile, states such as Texas and New Mexico needed only about a week.

Originally intended as a tool to narrowly inform agency decision-making, the National Environmental Policy Act is now wielded as a sword against oil and gas projects. The permitting reform bill exempts qualifying, low-impact oil and gas work on federal land from a separate NEPA review and allows wells drilled from state or private land into federal minerals to operate under the existing state permit.

That is “Drill, baby, drill” written into law.

NEPA is the most litigated environmental law on the books. Agencies win about 70% of those cases, but the donor-backed plaintiffs do not care. Challenged projects typically sit for three years between approval and final decision — and three years of limbo can kill more wells and pipelines than any judge.

The permitting reform bill shuts that down. Challengers get 150 days, not six years, to file. They must have taken part in the public comment process and show direct harm, which ends the practice of national groups parachuting in.

Pipelines win too. States hostile to natural gas have used the Clean Water Act to stall pipelines for reasons unrelated to water quality. This legislation would give a state one year to decide and require any denial to cite a real water-quality requirement.

Once a permit is issued, it remains in effect. Under the bill, a federal permit in effect or issued after Sept. 16, 2026, could not be revoked or suspended after the fact unless the government showed clear and convincing evidence that a narrow circumstance applied.

That is the kind of certainty that gets capital off the sidelines.

All this means lower costs for American families. A study by Greenline Insights completed earlier this year found that permitting reform could cut household electricity bills by more than $55 billion through 2035. Every year that a project spends stuck in review or in court means more costs that eventually land on utility bills.

This is also a matter of national security. A country that produces more energy than it needs cannot be held hostage by oil-rich enemies. That strength extends to our allies. When American natural gas reaches Europe and Asia, our friends no longer have to rely solely on hostile regimes for energy. Permitting reform gives America leverage our adversaries cannot match.

President Trump has taken significant steps to support American oil and gas development, but executive orders last only as long as the next election allows. The Biden administration demonstrated that by reversing course on Alaskan drilling leases, canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and pausing job-creating liquefied natural gas projects.

If we want stable, long-term American energy dominance, it should be grounded in legislation, not just executive action. Congress has an opportunity to lower energy costs, strengthen our national security and establish a lasting energy policy that prioritizes domestic production, American energy independence and long-term economic growth.

• Mike Conaway served eight terms in the House of Representatives, representing Texas’ 11th Congressional District, which includes the Permian Basin — the largest petroleum-producing basin in the United States — and energy industry-dependent cities such as Midland, Odessa and San Angelo.