We all know the value of affordable and reliable energy. From powering homes and businesses to supporting hundreds of thousands of good jobs for Ohioans, energy means jobs, growth, and opportunity. But demand for energy is surging.
America’s electricity demand is projected to increase 35 to 50% by 2040, driven in large part by new AI data centers.
In the PJM Interconnection, which includes Ohio, 95% of new power demand through 2030 is expected to come from data centers, further straining a system that’s slow to bring new power sources online.
According to a report by the Ohio Business Roundtable, Ohio’s regional energy needs could surge 50% in nine years with the buildout of new data centers.
A broken federal permitting system
The rapid rise of technology and the race for America’s future brings new urgency to fixing a broken, inefficient permitting system where projects are often stuck in red tape and buried in endless reviews, thus blocking the critical infrastructure needed to keep pace with demand.
Infrastructure projects of all kinds – pipelines, power plants, transmission lines – even roads and bridges – face a myriad of federal approvals under a maze of outdated laws and regulations. Opponents regularly weaponize statutes like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) to block development at every stage of permitting.
In natural gas- and oil-rich Ohio and the Appalachian region, more takeaway capacity, including pipelines, is needed to move energy from the drilling field to the refinery and then to consumers.
Construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, for example, began in 2018, but after nearly six years of lawsuits and delays, it took an act of Congress to finish.
And to the north in Michigan, the shovel-ready Great Lakes Tunnel project is awaiting permits, which will house a dual oil and natural gas liquids pipeline that supplies regional refineries and serves most of the state’s propane needs.
Other major pipelines projects were cancelled after years of permitting delays and court challenges.
When infrastructure lags behind demand, supply tightens. Building new infrastructure helps energy flow faster to consumers and could help keep costs affordable.
While the Trump administration and legislative leaders in Ohio have taken steps to stop harmful mandates and restrictive energy policies to help bolster American energy dominance, congressional action on permitting reform is urgently needed to unlock America’s potential and get back to building. Enacting commonsense deadlines and predictable permitting processes can help ensure projects are built in years, not decades.
Three key areas must be addressed: 1) set deadlines and enforce them, 2) stop lawsuits and start building and 3) enforce targeted reviews and swift decisions.
Ohio stands ready to build
Energy-rich Ohio can benefit from permitting reform being passed into law at the federal level. Sitting atop the Utica shale and the Marcellus, the largest natural gas formation in the U.S., Ohio is a leading natural gas and oil producer. In 2023, Ohio was the largest oil producer east of the Mississippi River and produced about 13 times more natural gas compared to 2013.
Ohio has the natural resources and skilled workforce to advance U.S. energy dominance and build a stronger economy. Permitting reform can help unleash Ohio energy to support innovation while creating good jobs and helping to keep energy costs affordable for consumers.
Without permit reform, Ohioans could face energy shortages, much like they do in California and New England, where policy roadblocks restrict energy access and infrastructure projects.
Ohioans shouldn’t have to pay the price for permitting delays, with fewer reliable energy options, because Washington can’t fix a broken permitting system. This doesn’t mean cutting corners on safety or the environment – it means using common sense, establishing clear deadlines and keeping critical projects moving forward – not trapped in red tape and litigation.
Congress must act on durable reforms that help ensure Americans have access to affordable, reliable and secure energy for decades to come while helping to power U.S. technology and innovation.
It’s time to fix permitting and get back to building – in Ohio, and across America.
Chris Zeigler is the executive director of American Petroleum Institute Ohio based in Columbus.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
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We’re building in Australia. With taxpayer dollars. And they won’t tell us why.
Perhaps Nick ‘Wind and solar are free’ Stokes can explain to us why our governments won’t explain why they’re spending our $750 million on useless stuff. It’s supposed to be free, isn’t it, Nick?
Nick…..?
A comment about democracy and more than 50% not worried about it.
For 30 pieces of silver, you can buy a lot of votes from a lot of people. It’s the new, “Look over there, a squirrel”
I’m not sure understand what your point is. 50% not worried about it? So:
A. There was a vote on this for all affected parties, and full disclosure was given to all the voters, and they voted for it;
B. The government was voted in so it can do whatever it likes with voters’ tax dollars;
C. Hardly anyone really knows anything about it it, so the government is perfectly justified in not disclosing anything about it.
Unless it’s A and i missed it, democracy has nothing to do with it. It’s merely government refusing FOI requests and doing whatever they like. Why does that sound familiar to me….?
Sounds like streamlining government decision making. Just do whatever you want, regardless of what the people footing the bill want.
Some people might like being ruled by the winners of a beauty contest. I tolerate “democracy” because I’m too lazy to do anything about it.
How about disqualifying any candidate running for a “political party”, rather than on their own merits? This might result in “government by the people”, warts and all.
Not going to happen, I know.
It’s only acceptable to delay when it comes to almost finished renewable projects, right?
Nope, not correct.
So called renewable projects should be cancelled with immediate effect and focus should be on reliable sources of energy.
You really should study the development of aircraft etc.
Ever heard of the Brabazon?
Or the American equivalent, the C-99.
The airfield attached to the factory where the Brabazon was built (and, later, the Britannia and Concorde) is now closed and is being re-developed. The area has been given the name “Brabazon”.
It would have made a wonderful international airport for Bristol.
You mean subsidy mining operations?
How mad are libs? This mad
“Ohio, Birthplace of Aviation 1803”
I don’t think so.
Has someone been at the Grok again.???
The Wright brothers’ world’s first powered flight was near Kitty Hawk in Dare County, North Carolina, on December 17th, 1903.
If you are going to make claims or statements, you should ascertain that they are correct.
Arguable. Wilbur and Orville Wright were residents of Ohio, but could not find suitable areas in state for their experiments, and ended up in North Carolina.
It is like saying something was a Canadian invention, when they left Canada as a teenager, and never returned.
North Carolina was the birthplace, not the point of conception.
I looked it up:
https://eu.cincinnati.com/story/news/2024/03/01/celebrate-ohio-221st-birthday-interesting-facts-march-1/72803425007/
1803 seems to be the adoption of the state seal?
But I agree with you, if you read only the statement without explaination it sounds nonsensical, esp. as Aviation began far earlier and outside the US.
“Aviation began far earlier and outside the US.”
Correct; 6th century China, using kites.
I assume your comment is ironic.
There are various claims made for various people using in powered heavier than air machines. But the Wright Brothers definitely had controls and photographic evidence.
British pioneers Sir George Cayley made manned glider flights and is considered the father of aerodynamics, he died in 1857.
John Stringfellow made steam powered models with propellers, he died in 1883.
The French had Clèment Ader who made very short steam powered flights in the 1890s.
But the Wright Brothers had the best PR.
Cayley (or, at least, his butler) was flying gliders in 1799!
You assume too much,
Ironically … it’s a fact (:-))
Here’s one reference
https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/340
Ok, the Birthplace of (powered) Aviation, with the powered part being silent. Nobody knows where the first bird was born, although I suppose it could have been in Ohio.
“I looked it up:”
If you can keep that up you will see in next to no time how how right we have been; and how wrong you have been.
Well done!
Bit worrying if there are no places in Ohio with wide open spaces. No room for solar power or wind farms. No steady wind? I’d like to see a “steady wind”.
Ohio became a state in 1803- do you get it now? 🙂
The British established a settlement in 1765 on the Falkland Islands. Argentina did not exist until 1880.
When will the Argies get it?
When they can beat the British army and navy.
No! When Kier Starmer gives it to them…
You’re misreading that. The state was established in 1803, whereas the Wright Brothers designed and built their airplane in Ohio.
Old debate, a more complete summary from Grok.
The Wright brothers conducted their foundational wind tunnel research in their Dayton, Ohio, workshop in 1901, building small tunnels to test wing shapes and derive accurate lift/drag data, which was crucial for their first flights. They conducted multiple flight experiments with gliders in nearby Huffman Prairie.
Charles Taylor developed and built the engine for the 1903 Wright Flyer in the Wright brothers’ bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. Taylor, hired in 1901 as a machinist and mechanic for the shop, was tasked with building the custom lightweight gasoline engine after the brothers couldn’t find a suitable off-the-shelf option from manufacturers. Working closely with rough sketches from the Wrights and using the shop’s tools (like a lathe and drill press), he constructed the 12-horsepower, four-cylinder, water-cooled aluminum engine in just six weeks during late 1902 and early 1903.
Final testing of the integrated system, i.e., the Wright Flyer, took place at Kittyhawk, because that’s where the wind was. Ohio and North Carolina share credit with the slogans “Birthplace of Aviation” and “First in Flight”, respectively. We Ohioans are happy to leave it that One thing for sure, Kittyhawk wouldn’t have happened without the research and development in Dayton.
Both states have had the claim and the airplane on their default auto license plates.
“Birthplace of Aviation”
That is a slogan in Ohio and what Ohio wanted on the “Ohio quarter”.
However, what was actually on it is “Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers”.
The North Carolina quarter says “First Flight“.
The first atomic bomb detonation was in New Mexico.
That does not make New Mexico the “Birthplace of the Atomic Age“.
Nah, Leonardo was there already..
You are an idiot. The two are not related. Ohio became a state in 1803. The Wright Brothers started researching manned powered flight circa 1899 and were successful in 1903. Learn some history dufus.
Even a return to sanity would be a big bonus.
New official figures suggest Ed Miliband’s Net Zero push could cost an eye-popping £4.5 trillion – more than the UK’s entire GDP – with households left to foot the bill.
Critics said the extraordinary mounting costs for measures such as wind farms, solar panels, green heating systems and upgrades to roads and railways are significantly higher than previous forecasts and could “bankrupt” the economy.
…
Last month, reports emerged that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband was poised to splurge billions of pounds on household grants for solar power, batteries and heat pumps in a scramble to meet Labour’s promise to cut energy bills. – Daily Sceptic
Only splurging the money isn’t going to cut energy bills, quite the reverse. [Ordinarily] Energy-rich Britain is going to quite unnecessarily push bills up right up to the Kármán line.
but… but… it’s worth it as it’ll help slow the rise in the ocean by a few microns this century /s
You’re beginning to sound just like mad Ed!
Couldn’t agree more.
If WUWT wants to continue as a responsible source of climate information the sex ads must end.
You could always ignore them, if you wanted to. I figure Anthony doesn’t mind getting at least some monetary contribution for his efforts.
I don’t get any sex ads. What am I doing wrong?
Try doing a search for something like, say, “women’s underwear”. They’ll probably start to show up. 😎
I don’t think he has any say in what ads show up.
But the income from the ads help keep the site up and running.
(The Big Oil check keeps getting lost in the mail.8-)
No need to worry. Trump is going to sort everything out. Just up the Pentagon budget and borrow a shitload of money ( low interest rates!) ie deflate the dollar to go and fight every ‘enemy’ while yr country turns to shite. In this scenario which is more real than the one Trump is selling the US Enterprize will take on water more swift than it is able to offload.
Aye aye Captain..steady as she goes..!😆
So long as that ‘access’ is not preceded by violent and illegal military activity to ‘secure supplies’ from other sovereign nations.
Not to mentioning denying Europe the right to cheap reliable access to gas from Russia, so that the USA can sell uncompetitive LNG to Europe through gangsterism.
The world has got beyond listening to US lies. You have plenty of oil and gas, you don’t need to be gangsters all over the world.
If Eurasia wants the same things as the USA (prosperity and free trade amongst sovereign nations), then that’s none of the USA’s business.