[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 12, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2209-S2210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today because all 
around the country, people understand it takes far too long to build 
something in America. It has to do with permitting.
  Americans want to build. We are ready to build. People are ready to 
finance it. The problem is, to build something in America today, it is 
costly, it is complex, and there is a cumbersome permitting process. In 
America, amazingly, you need to get permission from the government to 
build just about anything.
  Now, I represent Wyoming. It is an energy State. It is America's 
energy breadbasket. We have world-class coal. We have abundant supplies 
of oil and natural gas. We have the richest uranium deposits in the 
world. And all of these affordable, available, and reliable forms of 
American energy are ready to power our country, not just now but for 
generations to come.
  We have world-class energy workers in Wyoming, as you do in your home 
State of Oklahoma, and we do all across the country. These people are 
ready to do the job. The Federal permitting process is standing in 
their way.
  The Federal permitting process is fundamentally broken. Permitting 
has become burdened by bureaucracy and weaponized by litigation, and we 
have a system that will not let us get to work. American energy, 
mining, roads, bridges, and buildings--all of them are caught in the 
crosshairs of a culture of saying no.
  Energy projects have been especially delayed by the bureaucrats and 
the trial lawyers. These are individuals who have never built a thing. 
Yet they believe they deserve veto power over those who do.
  Meanwhile, energy demand in America is rising dramatically. The new 
energy demand across America is adding up like adding an entire new 
California to the grid. Those are the needs. Every permitting delay 
costs our economy and our Nation. Delays mean higher utility bills. 
Delays mean paychecks are lost, money doesn't get earned. Delays mean 
fewer investments in our communities. This is all unacceptable.
  We need to produce more American energy, and we need to produce more 
in order to lower costs. The best way to spur the government to issue 
permits is to impose strict deadlines and to stop these endless 
lawsuits. It seems that builders need a clear yes or no. And once 
approved, they need certainty that their permits will endure. That has 
been a real problem.
  There is a law called NEPA. It stands for the National Environmental 
Policy Act. It is the biggest obstacle. NEPA essentially halts any and 
all development in its tracks. NEPA was enacted in 1970, and it 
required costly and sprawling environmental reviews.
  America was built by men and women of daring. Now they face delays.

[[Page S2210]]

  Our forefathers laid steel across mountains, they poured concrete 
into canyons, and they built towering skyscrapers that still inspire 
the world. Americans forged our Nation's future with speed and with 
purpose.
  We built the Empire State Building in a little over a year. We built 
the Hoover Dam in just 5 years. We built the 2000-mile Transcontinental 
Railroad in just 6 years. That was a long time ago. You could get 
things done.
  Today, a single environmental review with NEPA can take 4 years or 
longer just to get the review done. That means you can't start 
construction without spending at least 4 years in the penalty box.
  It is embarrassing that it takes so long to approve everyday projects 
today, much longer than it took to build the wonders of the modern 
world.
  Right now, $1.5 trillion in critical infrastructure is trapped. It is 
trapped in the desks of unelected, unaccountable, heavyhanded 
bureaucrats. The money can't move, and Americans pay for every year a 
project sits on those desks.
  To make matters worse, NEPA is also the most litigated of all Federal 
environmental laws. If you want to do something, you are going to get 
sued. On average, over 100 lawsuits related to NEPA are filed every 
year. Malicious lawsuits filed by radical environmental activists lead 
to higher costs, more delays, no progress. Too many prefer legal 
molasses to affordable oil and gas.
  Just last year, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to limit the 
scope of NEPA in terms of all these environmental reviews, which have 
grown dramatically. Justice Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion 
that NEPA has become ``a blunt and haphazard tool employed by project 
opponents . . . to try to stop or at least slow down new infrastructure 
or construction projects.''
  The Supreme Court's unanimous opinion is right. NEPA was once called 
the ``environmental Magna Carta.'' Today, it is a regulatory Berlin 
Wall.
  Since day one, President Trump has prioritized rolling back 
burdensome regulations. The President has accelerated the permitting 
process--rightly so. Americans are already seeing the results. We are 
producing a record amount of energy. But we can do more, and we must do 
more, and we must do it quickly.
  Now is the time for Congress to act. I am soon going to introduce 
legislation to break the bottlenecks in Federal permitting. This is the 
No. 1 way to boost American energy and mineral dominance, and to lower 
prices, lower costs, and lower what has to come out of people's 
pockets.
  My legislation will encourage access to oil and gas resources on 
Federal lands and offshore. It will also enact commonsense judicial 
reforms to NEPA.
  The Senate has a good start on the permitting process. Senator 
Manchin and I introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. We 
did that when we were at the Energy Committee together. This was 
bipartisan legislation designed to fix the Nation's permitting process 
and the rules. It was carefully negotiated over the course of an entire 
year, and it earned strong bipartisan support. It passed our Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee 15 to 4.
  Today, Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Senator Mike 
Lee of Utah are taking the lead to advance commonsense permitting 
reform using this model as a background. Senator Capito chairs the 
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Senator Lee chairs 
the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. They are the key 
committees for permitting reform. Senator Capito and Senator Lee are 
doing exemplary work. It is time for all Senators to find common ground 
on permitting.
  Americans still know how to build. We build the best in the world, 
and we want to build. We are a nation of builders, and we are not a 
nation of waiters.
  That is where we are. We need to get this done, and it is time for 
America's permitting process to get out of the way.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.