Permitting Reform Dashboard
Tracking every federal and state effort to unfuck the process of building energy infrastructure in America 🇺🇸
Federal Bills Tracker: 119th Congress
After years of failed attempts, permitting reform has real momentum. The SPEED Act passed the House in December 2025. The Senate is crafting its own version. Here's every major bill and where it stands.
REWIRE Act of 2026 (Bipartisan)
Introduced March 2, 2026 by Senators McCormick (R-PA) and Welch (D-VT). Creates NEPA categorical exclusions for grid capacity projects within existing rights-of-way, directs FERC to revise return-on-equity rules for advanced conductors, and authorizes new DOE grid modeling programs. A rare bipartisan grid bill in 2026.
Padilla Transmission Draft (Senate Democrats)
Unveiled March 26, 2026 by Senators Padilla (D-CA), Hickenlooper (D-CO), Cortez Masto (D-NV), Gallego (D-AZ), and King (I-ME). Builds on EPRA 2024. Targets HVDC lines, advanced grid upgrades, improved interconnection procedures, and reauthorized grid resilience grants. Unveiled the same day as the Senate ENR bulk power hearing — signaling coordinated legislative pressure.
ePermit Act (Bipartisan)
Introduced February 10, 2026 by Padilla, Curtis (R-UT), Booker (D-NJ), and McCormick (R-PA). Modernizes federal environmental reviews and permitting processes using digital and cloud-based tools. Aims to reduce delays from outdated systems and improve interagency coordination without loosening environmental standards.
FERC Reform: Orders 2023 & 1977
FERC is tackling the problem from the regulatory side. Order 2023 overhauls the interconnection queue process. Order 1977 gives FERC backstop authority to site transmission lines when states fail to act. Both are now being implemented.
Order 2023: Queue Reform
Replaces the first-come, first-served interconnection process with a first-ready, first-served cluster study approach. Requires financial commitments upfront to weed out speculative projects. Aims to clear the 2,300+ GW backlog.
Nov 2023: Rule effective
May 2025: CAISO compliance approved by FERC
Aug 2025: ISO-NE transitional cluster study begins
2025-2026: All RTOs/ISOs implementing
Order 2023-A. Clarifications
Clarifications on cost allocation, withdrawal penalties, and transition provisions. Extended compliance deadlines for some RTOs.
Order 1977: Backstop Siting
FERC can approve transmission siting when states reject or fail to act within 1 year. First federal backstop siting authority ever.
DOE Data Center Directive
DOE directed FERC (Oct 2025) to fast-track data center interconnection. Final action deadline: April 30, 2026.
The Problem, Visualized
How long does it actually take to build energy infrastructure in America? The numbers are brutal.
State-Level Reform Tracker
The states are a patchwork. Some are fast-tracking energy projects to attract investment. Others are slamming on the brakes over data center growth, noise, and grid concerns. Bipartisan governors from 12+ states sent Congress a letter demanding federal permitting reform.
| State | Direction | Reform / Action | Status | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | Fast-tracking | 2025 law requires data centers to participate in demand response & accept curtailment. In exchange: expedited permitting and grid connection. | Signed into law | GW-scale DC growth with grid protection |
| Georgia | Fast-tracking | PSC approved massive Georgia Power grid expansion plan (Dec 2025) to serve data center load. Fast-tracking generation + transmission. | Approved | Multi-GW of new capacity authorized |
| Virginia | Adding barriers | Multiple bills proposing data center moratoriums. General Assembly panel recommends utilities can "tap the brakes" on new DC connections. House may consider temporary moratorium. | Under consideration | $64B+ in projects at risk statewide |
| Oklahoma | Mixed | Legislators calling for state-wide data center moratorium while also fast-tracking natural gas and oil projects. | Proposed | Uncertain, could chill investment |
| Michigan | Mixed | Moratorium calls for data centers while simultaneously fast-tracking Palisades nuclear restart with $400M DOE grant. | Mixed signals | Nuclear positive, DC uncertain |
| Arizona | Adding barriers | Local communities evaluating energy and water impacts before approving new data center projects. Multiple projects facing opposition. | Local moratoria | Project delays in Phoenix metro |
| North Carolina | Adding barriers | Community pushback stymying large data center projects. Local opposition growing around noise, water, and grid impact. | Local opposition | Multiple projects stalled |
| Oregon | Mixed | Communities evaluating energy impacts before approvals. State also streamlining some renewable energy permitting processes. | Under review | Selective fast-tracking |
| Indiana | Fast-tracking | Part of bipartisan governors' coalition (12+ states) pushing Congress for federal permitting reform. State actively courting energy + DC investment. | Active | Pro-growth policy stance |
| Pennsylvania | Fast-tracking | Gov. Shapiro co-leading bipartisan governors' permitting reform push. Supporting TMI restart, nuclear-powered data centers. | Active | TMI restart, nuclear-DC deals |
Stuck in Permitting Hell
These represent real power, real jobs, and real clean energy that has been trapped in the permitting process for years. Some for over a decade.
Multi-State HVDC Transmission
A 780-mile HVDC transmission line to carry 5,000 MW of wind energy from Kansas to Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. After 15 years of permitting battles across 4 states, construction still hasn't started. The DOE withdrew a $4.9B conditional loan guarantee in July 2025 because the project's financial commitments weren't binding enough. The line has all state approvals and FAST-41 designation, yet no shovel in the ground.
SunZia Transmission
550-mile HVDC, 3,500 MW. First proposed 2008, broke ground 2024 — 16 years of permitting and legal challenges. Pattern Energy secured $11B+ to make it real.
TransWest Express
732-mile line, Wyoming wind to the Desert Southwest. Proposed 2007, construction finally underway after nearly two decades of permitting across four states.
Champlain Hudson Power Express
339-mile buried HVDC, 1,250 MW of Canadian hydro to NYC. Proposed 2010, construction began 2024 — running underwater avoided some delays but still took 14 years.
Average Solar Farm
LBNL: median solar project in 2023 took 5 years from interconnection request to operation, up from under 2 years in the early 2000s. 87% of queue projects from 2000-2019 were eventually withdrawn.
Average Wind Farm
Federal land wind projects face BLM, NEPA, wildlife reviews, and interconnection waits. One Wyoming project: 11 years for NEPA approval alone. Vineyard Wind: 8+ years proposal to first power.
Government Said No: The Bureaucracy Body Count
These projects were killed outright by regulation, permitting failure, or government action. Billions in investment and thousands of MW that will never power anything.
Cape Wind: Massachusetts
America's first proposed offshore wind farm spent 16 years in NEPA, litigation, and political obstruction. Developer won 31 of 32 lawsuits. Hundreds of millions in sunk costs. Zero electrons generated.
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository: Nevada
Designated 1987. $15 billion spent on studies and construction. Defunded 2011 under political pressure. Result: the US still has no permanent nuclear waste storage — spent fuel sits at 70+ reactor sites.
NuScale UAMPS. Idaho
Set to be America's first SMR — got the NRC license. Cancelled when costs ballooned from $5.3B to $9.3B over an 8-year timeline. The license sits unused.
Offshore Wind Suspensions: East Coast (2025)
Trump administration suspended five East Coast offshore wind projects in 2025. Billions invested, thousands of planned MW frozen. DOI also changed NEPA rules to disadvantage renewables' land footprint.
Mountain Valley Pipeline: Appalachia
So buried in litigation and permit revocations that it took an act of Congress to complete — Manchin inserted language overriding court orders into the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Nine years to build 303 miles.
Pebble Mine: Alaska
35 years of review. EPA used Clean Water Act authority to permanently block it in 2023. The longest permitting fight in US mining history — the process became the punishment.
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Tracking NEPA reform, permitting delays, FERC orders, and infrastructure policy
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