Powering Pennsylvania’s future requires durable, predictable permitting

Lehigh Valley Business. Stephanie Catarino Wissman. 12.26.25

Today, our state and nation stand at a critical crossroads - one that will determine whether the U.S. continues to lead the world in affordable, reliable energy or falls behind due to bureaucratic red tape and gridlock.

Just 15 years ago, Pennsylvania produced less than 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

Now, Pennsylvania produces more than 20 billion cubic feet per day, enough to supply approximately 100 million U.S. homes with energy for one day. This surge has helped take America from a position of scarcity and dependence to one of abundance and global leadership.

In the Keystone State, natural gas and oil supports 400,000 jobs and adds $40 billion to the state's economy every year.

Nationwide, the industry supports 10 million American jobs and contributes nearly $1.8 trillion to the U.S. GDP - about 8 percent of the entire economy. In testimony before the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee's recent public hearing on energy affordability and reliability, American Petroleum Institute's Vice President of Natural Gas Markets, Rob Jennings, referred to this as the "first 8 percent," because "nothing else in the economy moves without energy."

Energy is the foundation of our modern economy - from the days of the Industrial Revolution to the invention of the internet and now the AI era. Bringing new opportunities and challenges, the AI revolution is taking off and pushing power demand to new heights.

Many of the energy challenges we face in Pennsylvania mirror those in other regions of the country. Residential electric utility bills, for example, have risen far faster than inflation in recent years - and while some of the cost drivers are unavoidable, others are self-inflicted.

Between 2010 to 2020, gas-fired generating capacity in Pennsylvania and the rest of PJM Interconnection, the largest regional transmission organization in the U.S., surged as utilities and independent power producers responded to a tightening regional electricity market and leveraged abundant natural gas from the Marcellus shale basin. However, new natural gas plant development has slowed significantly in recent years for a variety of policy- and market-related reasons.

Although the impact of this slowdown in bringing new natural gas plants onto the grid didn't have an immediate impact, that is changing fast amid forecasts of rapidly rising electricity demand, which is being driven by advancements in manufacturing, innovations in AI and electrification. In the latest long-term demand outlook, PJM projects that overall power demand across its footprint will jump nearly 60 percent over the next decade. Ninety-five percent of new power demand through 2030 is expected to come from data centers.

Across the Keystone State, including Cumberland, Dauphin and Lancaster counties, AI data centers and other power-intensive projects are being proposed and built, generating new economic opportunities and jobs for Pennsylvanians. But this progress also provides opportunities for Pennsylvania energy. 

This growth in power demand is extraordinary, yet it is an indication of a growing economy and job creation - a generational opportunity to advance American energy and innovation.

Pennsylvania has and will continue to play a key role in powering our lives with its abundant supply of shale gas. The question is, can we build the infrastructure needed to move energy from where it's produced to where it's needed?

That's the biggest barrier to advancing American energy: permitting. Meaningful, durable permitting reforms at the state and federal level are needed to allow for timely buildout of infrastructure, such as pipelines, transmission lines, natural gas storage, power plants - even roads and bridges.

Projects are often languishing in years of duplicative review or endless litigation. A pipeline that should take less than a year to permit can stretch to a decade, delaying the delivery of affordable, reliable energy that American consumers and businesses count on.

Congress must act on commonsense deadlines and predictable permitting processes to help ensure projects are built in years, not decades. Three key areas must be addressed: set deadlines and enforce them, stop endless lawsuits and limit reviews to direct project impacts.

Pennsylvania doesn't just have the energy resources America needs - it has the leadership to show how responsible energy development powers prosperity.

Everything is pointing to the fact that we need more energy, and that requires more infrastructure. Permitting reform is the key to opening the door to energy abundance and prosperity. Because when America builds, America wins.

Stephanie Catarino Wissman is the executive director of American Petroleum Institute Pennsylvania based in Harrisburg, Pa.

Powering Pennsylvania's future requires durable, predictable permitting - LVB