Arnold Ventures and Club for Growth convened the Energy Affordability Summit in Columbus, Ohio, bringing together top Administration officials, influential Senate and state leaders, business and labor voices, military veterans, and energy experts…all united with one message: America needs energy permitting reform now.
Summit speakers explored how unnecessary bureaucracy and endless delays are holding our country back. Through permitting reform, we can build infrastructure, unleash American energy dominance, and deliver affordable electricity to every American home.
Here are our top 5 takeaways from the event:
1. Permitting reform will return America to a “Nation that Builds.”
America has enormous potential, but a slow and unpredictable permitting system delays projects and raises costs. Throughout the summit, speakers discussed how clearer rules, more transparent approval processes, and predictable timelines can move transformative projects from planning to completion while maintaining appropriate safeguards.
As Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, “We have to be able to build big things in America.”
2. Business and labor leaders are demanding permitting reform.
Business and labor leaders, who often disagree on other issues, are in lockstep agreement that permitting delays stifle opportunity and job creation. Major infrastructure projects are taking longer and costing more to build than ever before. Business and labor agree: we are at risk of losing our global economic competitive edge and countless good-paying jobs if we don’t reform the permitting process now.
At the Club for Growth Energy Affordability Summit, Arnold Ventures Co-Founder and Co-Chair John Arnold and Secretary Wright discuss an America First energy agenda.
Arnold Ventures President and CEO Kelli Rhee moderated a bipartisan panel featuring Ohio Chamber President and former Congressman Steve Stivers (R-OH) and former Acting Secretary of the Army and former Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) on the importance of permitting reform and the bipartisan support behind it.
Arnold Ventures Co-Founder and Co-Chair John Arnold joined Senator Dave McCormick for a discussion on how America can lower energy costs and build critical infrastructure more efficiently.
3. Without permitting reform, we lose investment to other countries.
Arnold Ventures Co-Founder and Co-Chair John Arnold highlighted how lengthy permitting timelines can affect whether major infrastructure projects move forward at all. Using the Mountain Valley Pipeline as an example, he described how extended timelines and escalating costs can create uncertainty for future investment, saying, “It was supposed to take 10 months and three and a half billion dollars. It ended up taking six and a half years and cost $9.6 billion.”
The broader challenge, leaders argued, is that when projects become too difficult and unpredictable to build, investment will move elsewhere.
4. Reliable energy will make America competitive and protect our national security.
Senior military leaders, including a former acting Secretary of the Army and a retired Major General, repeatedly connected energy infrastructure to our national security. Locking up our domestic energy supply makes us weaker and vulnerable to our adversaries.
Ohio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, and former Army officer and Congressman Steve Stivers, stated: “Permitting reform is a national security issue. Our national security depends on affordable, abundant power. It depends on resilient infrastructure and supply chain.”
5. Meeting future energy demand will require long-term planning and investment.
Energy demand is expected to grow significantly in the years ahead, especially in major manufacturing hubs like Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Without energy permitting reform, leaders cannot plan for the future, innovate, and attract the capital necessary to get major projects off the ground. Leaders emphasized that planning for future demand will require policies that make it easier to build and deliver affordable, reliable energy.
As Sen. Dave McCormick noted, “There’s no more important thing that I can think of than having the energy needed to be able to lead … And permitting is the single biggest thing that stands in the way of our ability to meet an accelerating energy demand.”
