Op-Ed: Fifty years of permitting dysfunction may finally be coming to an end

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For decades, the American oil and gas industry has watched viable infrastructure projects collapse under the weight of a federal permitting system that was never designed to deliver timely decisions. Projects with strong economics, willing investors, and genuine public need have spent five, six, or ten years waiting for federal approvals before a shovel touched the ground. That is now changing, through a convergence of executive action, landmark legislation, and agency reform that together constitute the most significant overhaul of energy permitting in a generation.

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed EO 14156 declaring a National Energy Emergency under the National Emergencies Act and EO 14154 titled “Unleashing American Energy,” directing all agencies to identify and eliminate regulations imposing undue burdens on domestic energy development. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright followed on February 5, 2025 with a secretarial order directing the Department of Energy to prioritize more efficient permitting for energy infrastructure. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order No. 908 on June 30, 2025, authorizing reliance on environmental reviews completed by other agencies and eliminating redundant parallel reviews. On October 7, 2025, FERC permanently rescinded Section 157.23, which had barred natural gas pipeline companies from proceeding with construction while rehearing requests were pending.

Executive orders are reversible, which is why the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed last July 4, represented a more durable development. The OBBBA capped Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) reviews at 150 pages and two years and created a fast-track mechanism under which a project sponsor pays a fee equal to 125% of anticipated preparation costs and receives a completed environmental assessment within 180 days or a full EIS within one year. It replaced the presidential permit requirement for cross-border energy infrastructure with a Certificate of Crossing issued by FERC or DOE, removing the State Department and White House from a process subject to political manipulation, as demonstrated by the Biden administration’s cancellation of the Keystone XL permit. The Interior Department was ordered to mandate a minimum of 30 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of America through 2040, restart Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) lease sales, and the OBBBA raised the Gulf of Mexico  Energy Security Act (GOMESA) revenue-sharing cap from $500 million to $650 million annually through 2034, benefiting Texas and three other Gulf-producing states.

Last December, the U.S. House also passed the bipartisan SPEED Act, introduced by Chairman U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-AR, and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-ME, proposing a 150-day statute of limitations for NEPA legal challenges and limiting judicial remedies to remand only, eliminating a court’s ability to vacate a permit or enjoin a project outright. That single change would do more to alter the litigation environment for energy infrastructure than any other reform currently under consideration. The U.S. House also passed H.R. 3668, the Improving Interagency Coordination for Pipeline Reviews Act, designating FERC as the sole lead agency for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews of interstate natural gas pipelines and liquified natural gas (LNG) import and export terminals.

The Texas congressional delegation has been among the most consequential contributors. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, introduced the Natural Gas Export Expansion Act in October 2025, treating LNG export applications to non-free trade agreement countries on the same terms as free trade partners. Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, jointly introduced the Protect LNG Act, prohibiting vacatur of authorized LNG permits and establishing a 90-day window for legal challenges. Cruz introduced the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act in April 2026, prohibiting liability against energy companies for damages arising from the use of their products. U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, R-TX,’s Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability Act, the FENCES Act, which passed the House in April, ensures foreign emissions and natural events such as wildfires are not counted against air monitoring data in domestic permitting decisions, protecting the Permian Basin from nonattainment designations based on pollution outside its control.

In the Senate, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-PA, introduced the Unlock American Energy and Jobs Act in April, targeting four primary barriers: Clean Water Act Section 401 abuse by states blocking infrastructure through procedural delays unrelated to water quality; LNG export authorization reform replacing case-by-case DOE approval with statutory authorization; nuclear licensing reform; and NEPA litigation reform preventing courts from vacating approved projects during pending challenges. McCormick’s office estimates over $1 trillion in infrastructure investment is stalled in federal permitting proceedings, representing $2.4 trillion in potential economic activity.

More recently, U.S. Republican senators from Wyoming, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, introduced the Let America Build Act of 2026 last week. Building on Barrasso’s earlier SPUR Act framework, the bill targets several persistent bottlenecks in oil, gas, and coal permitting. It proposes NEPA judicial reforms including lawsuit deadlines and a remand-only remedy standard, reduced federal regulatory burdens, greater deference to state oversight and primacy for drilling permits on federal land, and streamlined federal reviews for split estates, LNG exports, new coal leases, and mining exploration.

What distinguishes this period from prior reform efforts is statutory depth. The OBBBA changed the law. FERC’s Order No. 908 and rescission of Section 157.23 established durable procedural standards. The SPEED Act and McCormick bill, if enacted, would codify changes no future administration could unilaterally reverse. Federal courts are scrutinizing the administration’s emergency declarations, the Senate remains the decisive forum, and comprehensive NEPA reform will require bipartisan support not yet secured.

Texas, responsible for roughly 44 percent of domestic crude oil production, conducts the overwhelming majority of that production on private land, meaning onshore federal leasing reforms have limited direct application to Texas operators. The federal reforms that matter most to the state govern pipelines, LNG infrastructure, NEPA litigation, and offshore Gulf of America development. Houston is headquarters to the major offshore operators and their supply chains, and the OBBBA’s mandate for 30 minimum Gulf lease sales through 2040, combined with increased GOMESA distributions, translates directly into economic activity along the Texas Gulf Coast.

The regulatory chokepoints most directly affecting Texas oil and gas development sit within the state’s own permitting system. The 89th Legislature passed SB 2037, establishing expedited review procedures and compressed contested case hearing timelines for LNG export terminal air permits at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), where approval timelines for minor amendments had approached three years and contested case procedures were adding six to twelve months compared to states such as Louisiana. Next year, when the Texas legislature convenes, state lawmakers could extend SB 2037’s framework to include major energy infrastructure permits across all facilities TCEQ regulates. The legislature could also establish statutory decision deadlines for individual air permit reviews under the New Source Review process, paired with deemed-approved provisions when the agency fails to act. The Texas Railroad Commission already issues standard drilling permits in approximately four business days. There is no structural justification for the state’s air quality permitting process to operate on timelines that stretch into years.

For an industry that has spent decades operating under a permitting framework more effective at generating litigation than approving infrastructure, the statutory and regulatory record now before Congress and the Texas Legislature represents the most credible opportunity in a generation to establish a permitting system that functions as it should. Whether both bodies deliver on that opportunity will define the investment and development landscape for American energy for years to come.