Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act, a major package of reforms that confronts a problem Western communities know well and that affect people across the nation: a federal permitting system that is often slow, unpredictable, and susceptible to arbitrary and shifting regulator whims. This system has been weaponized in an attempt to stop nearly every major energy, infrastructure, land-use, and agricultural project in America.
This bill is important for anyone who cares about American prosperity and energy independence. Across the country, major projects regularly stall while federal regulators take years to make decisions that Congress intended to be timely. The PERMIT Act reflects bipartisan recognition that a functioning federal permitting system is indispensable to American prosperity, American energy independence, and property rights, which is why the Act connects directly to the mission of Mountain States Legal Foundation’s new litigation center, the Center for American Prosperity & Energy (CAPE).
What the PERMIT Act Addresses
The PERMIT Act bundles a series of commonsense reforms that all share one goal:
cut red tape, increase transparency, and stop federal agencies from weaponizing the Clean Water Act (CWA) against landowners, farmers, and energy producers.
Here’s what’s inside:
- Clears Up Backlogs
The U.S. Army Corps currently has more than 3,500 delayed Clean Water Act decisions to make. These delays halt mines, energy development, infrastructure development, and more. The PERMIT Act directs the Corps to clear this backlog so projects and the communities that depend on them can move forward. - Prevents Agencies from Unlawfully Killing Projects
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has, at times, blocked or vetoed projects before applications were filed—or even after permits were approved. The Act reins in those practices. - Increases Transparency
The Act requires the EPA to use transparent, science-based rulemaking when setting water-quality criteria that affect farmers, landowners, and energy producers. - Supports Firefighters, Timber Producers, Farmers, and Rural Communities
It protects the lawful use of aerial fire retardant in wildfire suppression, simplifies on-farm fuel storage rules, and removes duplicative pesticide permitting requirements. - Promotes Certainty for Energy and Resource Development
From mining to pipelines to transmission lines to renewable energy installations, certainty and clarity in permitting remain essential for building the next generation of American infrastructure.
Why This Matters for CAPE
We created the Center for American Prosperity & Energy to take the Constitution on offense, promote American prosperity, and advance reliable and affordable American energy. We fight to ensure that governments at all levels operate within the authority the Constitution provides. The challenges that the House has addressed in the PERMIT Act, from regulatory delay to unclear standards, to arbitrary decisions and opaque rulemaking, are precisely the obstacles that harm American prosperity and energy. And people here in the West and across the nation confront them every day.
As the Senate takes this bill up next, CAPE will continue educating the public, supporting responsible reforms, and fighting for a future where Americans can build, produce, and innovate with confidence and clarity. That will help keep our nation strong, prosperous, and energy-secure.
Thank you for standing with us as we work to secure a future in which America is prosperous and secure, and American energy is strong, lawful, and reliable.
