Business and Labor Agree: Pass the Senate’s Permitting Reform Bill

Business and labor do not always agree. But, there is one thing we do agree on: America cannot create jobs, strengthen its energy system, or compete globally if we cannot build. 

Today, even a project with financing in place, customers ready to buy, and skilled workers ready to get started can remain stuck for years as federal permits move through repeated reviews and litigation. The consequences are real: delayed investment, constrained energy supplies, rising costs, and lost paychecks. 

One of us represents Pennsylvania employers deciding where to invest and grow. The other represents the skilled workers who construct the factories, pipelines, and infrastructure that make that growth possible. From both perspectives, the problem is the same: Government must be able to provide a responsible, timely, and predictable answer. 

Businesses need certainty before they commit millions of dollars to a factory, power plant, or infrastructure project. Contractors need a reliable schedule to hire workers, invest in equipment, and plan work. Apprentices need a pipeline of projects where they can put their training to use. Years of uncertainty undermine all three. 

Meeting growing energy demand and strengthening the electric grid will require new power generation, pipelines, transmission lines, and other infrastructure. The federal government plays an important role in reviewing these projects to ensure they are completed responsibly. A well-functioning permitting process can achieve both thorough review and timely decisions. The country and commonwealth need both. 

The Senate’s permitting reform agreement would establish clearer timelines for federal reviews and legal challenges, provide greater certainty for projects that have already received permits, and address barriers to expanding the grid.  

These are bipartisan, practical, common-sense reforms that benefit workers, employers, and communities. A project that moves forward can mean jobs for pipefitters, electricians, welders, laborers, and other skilled tradespeople. It can also mean new orders for suppliers and small businesses, greater opportunities for contractors, and lower cost energy for employers that need reliable power. 

None of this requires diminishing key environmental protections. The bill retains environmental and historic preservation requirements while seeking to make reviews more efficient and predictable. 

Faster permitting does not guarantee every project will be approved, nor should it. It simply means that agencies will evaluate applications on their merits, meet reasonable deadlines, and provide answers. Legal challenges should likewise be resolved on a predictable schedule, instead of leaving investments exposed to years of uncertainty. 

The legislation represents a meaningful bipartisan effort to improve a permitting system that too often undermines America’s ability to compete. Congress now faces a choice: take a meaningful step toward a system that can support investment, energy reliability, and job creation, or maintain a broken status quo. In Pennsylvania, we have worked with the Shapiro administration and General Assembly to enact similar steps to streamline the permitting process, and federal reforms will further strengthen the process. 

Business and labor don’t agree on everything – but we both support an economy where companies can invest, workers can build and lead rewarding careers, and communities can benefit from responsible development. 

Lawmakers should advance the Senate’s bipartisan permitting reform plan and help move critical projects from the drawing board to construction, from investment to jobs, and from potential to progress. Congress has an opportunity to deliver on these shared priorities – and they should seize it. 

Luke Bernstein is the president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Jim Snell is the business manager of Steamfitters Local 420.