ICYMI: Former Sen. Pat Toomey Explains How Permitting Delays Drive Up Costs for American Families in FOX News Op-Ed

“Permitting reform isn’t simply an energy issue or an environmental issue. It is an affordability issue.”

In case you missed it, former U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, an advisor to Americans for Free Markets (AFFM) discussed how America’s broken permitting system is inflating the cost of living for millions of families in a FOX News Digital opinion piece.

The Senator notes that the economics are straightforward: when supply increases, prices fall. Yet the current permitting system routinely delays supply — taking years to produce even basic government decisions and creating a hidden cost that consumers ultimately pay through higher rents, energy bills, and broader inflation.

Much of this dysfunction stems from decades of expanding procedural requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

“Over time, it has evolved into a procedural maze that too often delays projects without producing better environmental outcomes. Endless rounds of paperwork, overlapping agency reviews and years of litigation have become commonplace, even after exhaustive environmental analysis is completed.”

Toomey noted the Mountain Valley Pipeline, first proposed in 2014, which took nearly a decade, and the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California, which has sat partially undeveloped for decades following its 1996 closure.

“The cumulative impact of these delays extends far beyond individual projects. Delayed housing means higher home prices and rents for families already struggling to afford them. Delayed transmission lines and pipelines mean more expensive and less reliable electricity.”

Critically, Toomey emphasized that fixing permitting does not require sacrificing environmental protection.

“America should continue to maintain high environmental standards. Clean air, water and responsible stewardship of public lands remain essential public priorities. But protecting the environment and requiring government agencies to make timely decisions are not mutually exclusive.”

The Senator concluded by pointing to three bills already before Congress that offer practical frameworks with bipartisan support: the SPEED Act, the FREEDOM Act and the PERMIT Act. Reasonable agency deadlines, better federal coordination, narrower opportunities for duplicative litigation and greater regulatory certainty would all accelerate project development without weakening safeguards.

Read Senator Toomey’s full FOX News Digital op-ed HERE and watch his recent interview on Mornings with Maria HERE.