Energizing the American Dream in Philadelphia

The National Governors Association brought together five Governors, energy leaders, and private-sector voices to Philadelphia on April 16, for a convening on NGA Chair Governor Kevin Stitt's "Reigniting the American Dream" initiative. The focus: how states are moving faster than Washington, D.C., on building the reliable and affordable energy infrastructure America needs.

Opening Remarks: Setting the Stage

Governor Stitt opened with a nod to Philadelphia's place in American history, noting that nearly 250 years ago "our Founding Fathers sparked a movement" which is up to us to continue, through efforts like the Reigniting the American Dream initiative, which he has anchored around three interconnected pillars including unlocking economic opportunity, empowering every learner and energizing the future, or as the Governor put it, doing "more of everything and the best of everything" on energy.

Governor Stitt made the point that America's core energy problem isn't resources; it's speed. Governor Stitt shared, "We're one of the slowest nations in the developed world at greenlighting new projects." He pointed to the bipartisan permitting recommendations NGA released last October as the most-sourced document the association has produced since COVID, and he credited Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as a close partner and co-chair on the permitting reform task force. He also reminded attendees that most countries he meets with aren't self-sufficient on energy the way the U.S. is and warned that squandering that advantage through slow permitting is a strategic mistake.

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer followed with a personal framing. Sixteen years ago, he served as a U.S. diplomat in Iraq embedded with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, where he watched colleagues lose their lives in a conflict driven, in part, by America's energy dependence. That experience shaped his commitment to domestic energy production.

Governor Meyer contrasted the U.S. pace with China's: the Vogtle nuclear reactors in Georgia took 15 years to complete, while China brings 8 to 10 reactors online each year on a 5-to-6-year timeline. Closer to home, he noted his wife's emergency room - operating at half the size it needs - faces a nine-year timeline just for expansion.

In February, Governor Meyer signed an executive order capping permitting timelines at six months, down from the 18-to-24-month average. Key features include a single unified application form replacing the multi-agency paperwork maze, technology-driven completeness checks that return instant feedback and a dedicated ombudsman for every complex project. As an example, Governor Meyer shared a memorable story about IT workers who told him their job was "putting cheese on tacos" - code for narrow, siloed thinking that his reforms aim to break. The new permitting website is expected to launch this month. Governor Meyer, who previously joined Governor Stitt's international learning journey to Switzerland as part of the initiative, tied his reforms directly to the American Dream framing: "We cannot reignite the American Dream if this is how long a state takes to build things."

Permitting Reform and the Private Sector

Moderated by Governors Stitt and Meyer, this panel brought together Mike Rombach of NRG Energy, Brad Hoagland of Johnson & Johnson, and Katie Altshuler of the Harold Hamm Institute to diagnose how permitting bottlenecks are slowing American investment - and to surface reforms already underway.

A common thread ran through all three presentations: the physical work of building things is no longer the binding constraint. Construction, supply chains and labor can be aligned on reasonable timelines. It's the regulatory overlay, and the litigation that follows it, that now determines whether projects happen.

Permitting reform needs to operate on three fronts at once: compressing approval timelines, narrowing post-approval litigation, and building the workforce and tooling that make faster buildout possible. The private sector isn't waiting - the question is whether the public sector can match its pace.

In Q&A, Governor Stitt noted the political opportunity: "You've got a Democrat Governor from Delaware and a Republican Governor from Oklahoma both talking about reducing the price of electricity for our citizens." He argued federalism is the answer: "Oklahoma doesn't want to be like California, California doesn't want to be like Texas, and that's OK."

Affordability, Permitting and Data Centers

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro welcomed attendees to Philadelphia and recognized the convening as both a celebration of America's 250th anniversary and a forward-looking moment.

Governor Shapiro praised Governor Stitt's leadership of NGA and emphasized that Governors are finding real bipartisan ground on permitting reform, energy production and cost reduction. He introduced the panel moderator, Anthony Adragna of Punchbowl News, and joined New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey and Governor Stitt for the main discussion.

Affordability

• Governor Shapiro touted seven bipartisan tax cuts passed in Pennsylvania during this term, even with a divided legislature, and more than $1 billion returned to residents, but said that state efforts can't fully offset economic headwinds.
• Governor Stitt talked about the difficulties of pendulum swings between administrations that drain investor confidence. He noted Oklahoma has some of the nation's cheapest gas and electricity prices, crediting a business-friendly posture.
• Governor Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and recently departed member of the House Armed Services Committee, declared a state of emergency on utility costs in New Jersey and froze rate hikes - citing PJM, the regional grid operator, as a core driver of rising prices.
• Governor Morrisey tied West Virginia's strategy to lifting the state out of poverty through energy-backed economic growth. He pointed to consumer-protection provisions in recent state laws as evidence that affordability and growth don't have to be in tension.

On Permitting Reform

• Governor Stitt said he'd just appointed a new U.S. senator specifically to push permitting reform and had met with Senator Thune on the path forward. He emphasized NEPA reform as essential.
• Governor Shapiro shared Pennsylvania's record: from 48th in the nation on permit time to being in the top five. The state now timestamps every permit, has issued 40 million permits in three years, and refunds applicants when deadlines slip; only five refunds have been issued. "The government has to move at the speed of business," he said.
• Governor Morrisey described West Virginia's approach of studying neighboring states for best practices (expressly crediting Pennsylvania) rather than competing purely on tax incentives.
• Governor Sherrill responded by sharing New Jersey has been beefing up its Business Action Center, digitizing paper processes and building a "shot clock" so applicants can track permit status in real time. She urged the federal government to template nuclear development to reduce costs by standardizing plans, training workforces and sequencing construction at scale.

On Data Centers

• Governor Shapiro laid out Pennsylvania's "Governors GRID" four-part test: bring your own power (and pay for it), deal transparently with local communities, hire local with community benefits agreements, and protect the environment. He framed AI supremacy over China as the stakes.
• Governor Stitt described Oklahoma's "behind the meter" law, which lets data centers tap natural gas and build their own turbines rather than negotiating multi-year interconnection queues with regional grid operators. He shared a statistic that surprises many: Oklahoma is No. 6 in oil production and No. 5 in natural gas, but also No. 2 in wind-generated electricity, with more than 50% of its energy from renewables.
• Governor Sherrill voiced frustration with PJM's handling of the data center buildout, which she said has driven up costs regionwide. She welcomed PJM's new "bring your own power" proposal but expressed concern that risk is still being pushed back to states.
• Governor Morrissey outlined West Virginia's "50 by 50" plan - scaling generation from 15.9 GW today to 50 GW by 2050. The state's House Bill 2014 enables behind-the-meter projects and routes 50% of data center revenues into a fund to eliminate the state income tax after local counties are funded. Google recently announced its first West Virginia data center. Governor Morrissey emphasized local buy-in as a prerequisite: "We're not looking for a short-term fix. We're looking for long-term partners."

Move Fast, Build Things

What stood out across the panels: the consistent refrain that states, not Washington, are where energy and permitting solutions are actually getting built. Governors from across the aisle and across the country converged on the same core ideas: cut permitting timelines, protect consumers, stay technology-neutral, build community buy-in and get government out of the way of American innovation. As Governor Stitt put it, "The best ideas aren't coming from Washington, D.C. They're coming from the states."

Gatherings like this are exactly why NGA exists. For more than a century, NGA has been a place where Republicans and Democrats can meet as peers, share what's working in their states and speak with unified voice on the issues that matter most. This week's convening showcased that rare and valuable role in action.