The National Governors Association (NGA) will press Congress this year to pass permitting reform legislation, the group confirmed on February 21, 2025. Earlier, the NGA launched a working group to explore issues surrounding permitting reform, infrastructure acceleration, and energy resilience, with a focus on the National Environmental Policy Act, judicial review, and transmission siting.
Governors will also focus on making sure the federal government meets its already committed obligations for federally funded projects in states, territories and commonwealths. Federal priorities for the NGA include working with Congress on the ‘most impactful’ programs for states and territories in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and other Acts, and also include speeding infrastructure development and securing energy resilience.
The US has over-incentivized intermittent resources like wind and solar, noting that wind, solar and energy storage make up about 95 per cent on grid interconnection queues in the country. For example, on January 20, 2025 early morning, when the PJM Interconnection was hitting a peak load, fossil-fueled generation accounted for 70 per cent of the grid operator’s power supply, followed by nuclear at 22 per cent, wind at 2 per cent, and zero solar.
The US needs to move faster to expand existing power plants and build new generating resources, transmission lines, and gas pipelines, as confirmed by the Department of Interior Secretary at the NGA’s annual meeting.