EEI Letter to Congress: "Permitting Reform Will Unleash America's Electric Companies, Improve Reliability, and Help Deliver Relief for Customers"

EEI Letter to Congress: "Permitting Reform Will Unleash America's Electric Companies, Improve Reliability, and Help Deliver Relief for Customers"

WASHINGTON (September 16, 2025) - Today, Edison Electric Institute (EEI) President and CEO Drew Maloney sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging action on comprehensive permitting reform to accelerate infrastructure deployment that will provide better service to customers, drive economic growth, and strengthen America's energy dominance.

"Rapid deployment of new energy infrastructure-including generation, transmission, and pipelines-is the lynchpin to providing more energy to our customers, meeting growing energy demand, and winning the AI race," wrote EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. "Congress must act now to streamline outdated permitting processes and ensure that the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act are no longer used to stall forward progress."

Please see the full link to the letter here and a one-page background document here.

Excerpts of the Letter:

"America's electric companies are working every day to provide reliable energy to their customers at the lowest cost possible. We are also leading the way on strengthening America's energy dominance. This includes plans for $1.1 trillion in grid investments during the next five years to better serve more than 250 million customers in communities across the nation. However, the current permitting processes are a roadblock to those goals.

"Rapid deployment of new energy infrastructure-including generation, transmission, and pipelines-is the lynchpin to providing more energy to our customers, meeting growing energy demand, and winning the AI race. Congress must act now to streamline outdated permitting processes and ensure that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) are no longer used to stall forward progress.

"Updating the federal permitting system can help end needless litigation, ensure reliability at the lowest cost, and fuel economic growth. Electric companies are focused on building new generation and transmission projects quickly and without unnecessary delays and costs. Current siting and permitting processes-and the protracted litigation they often entail-can stop projects in their tracks or add years to deployment timelines, saddling customers with needless costs and slowing economic growth. The electric power industry supports more than seven million jobs in communities across the United States and can provide more job opportunities through increased construction.

"Congress can act to speed up infrastructure deployment by modernizing the federal permitting system now so that more electricity projects can be rapidly built. We urge Congress to:

• Streamline NEPA to ensure speed and certainty for NEPA reviews and set reasonable bounds for legal challenges. Passing the Westerman/Golden SPEED Act is a necessary first step.

• Strengthen and extend nationwide permitting under CWA Section 404/Rivers and Harbors Act Section 10. Codify and expand this already working permit program.

• Speed up and focus state water quality certifications under CWA Section 401. Center these certifications on direct discharges and establish appropriate timelines for state action.

• Right-size the scope of the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 to both ensure historic preservation and the ability to grow and deploy new infrastructure.

"Permitting reform will unleash America's electric companies, improve reliability, and help deliver relief for customers in all 50 states. Congress must work together on bipartisan, common-sense reforms to achieve energy dominance, win the AI race, and allow electric companies to meet increasing energy demand reliably and affordably.

"We stand ready to work with Congress and the Administration to advance these shared goals."