Armstrong Calls For Congress to Streamline Energy Permitting

(Screenshot from C-SPAN via the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong joined other governors from around the country in calling for Congress to cement energy permitting reform in federal law.

The governors, who spoke during a meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, D.C., represented states with varying energy preferences, from wind and solar to natural gas and coal. They all agreed that permitting those projects at the federal level needs to happen quicker, more efficiently, and not be in danger of cancellation with the election of a new president.

“We should figure out how we codify that,” Armstrong, a Republican and former member of Congress, said during a panel with the governors of Alaska, West Virginia and the Virgin Islands. “If you don’t make it energy agnostic, it doesn’t matter what project you have. They all take longer to build than four years or eight years.”

The Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported crude oil from Canada to the United States, was canceled by President Joe Biden in 2021. President Donald Trump, during the first year of his second term, has halted permitting or frozen federal grants for several renewable energy projects.