America’s energy future is stuck at the starting line. More than 2,600 gigawatts of new generation and storage capacity are waiting in interconnection queues. Twenty-five major natural gas pipelines are awaiting federal approval. Billions of dollars in investment are ready to move, but these projects remain stalled in the permitting process before construction can begin.
Meeting the nation’s growing energy needs will require significantly more infrastructure. Electrification is accelerating, factories are returning, data centers are coming online, and allies abroad are increasingly relying on American natural gas. These trends are driving sustained growth in demand for both electricity and natural gas.
Data centers consume roughly 4.5% of U.S. electricity today and could account for 9.5 to 15% by 2030, representing more than 40% of electricity demand growth over the next five years. U.S. LNG feed gas demand is projected to double to 36 billion cubic feet per day within five years, while natural gas consumption in the electric power sector is expected to reach a record high next year.
The infrastructure required to meet that demand follows a logical sequence. Pipelines must be in place to fuel power plants, power plants must be built to generate electricity, and transmission must be in place to carry that electricity to where it is needed. When permitting delays break that sequence at every link, costs rise and the system fails to deliver.
The INGAA Foundation estimates more than $1 trillion in midstream capital investment will be needed through 2052. Independent analyses estimate transmission capacity must grow by roughly 60% by 2030 and nearly triple by 2050. A permitting process that functions predictably is what makes coordinated investment possible.
When timelines stretch for years and outcomes remain uncertain, developers cannot make well-informed siting and sequencing decisions, and the result is either underbuilding in constrained areas or investment that does not align with where demand is actually growing.
In PJM, the largest grid operator in the country, more than 220 gigawatts of new generation is waiting to connect to the system. More than 55 gigawatts have already completed interconnection review and are positioned to move forward, yet permitting delays continue to hold projects back. More than two dozen major interstate natural gas pipelines remain tied up where overlapping federal and state reviews and years of litigation routinely delay construction.
New generation projects now wait an average of five or more years to connect, and pipeline and transmission projects can spend six or more years in permitting — some taking more than a decade from planning to completion.
Americans are already paying 22% more for electricity than they were five years ago. The backlog of projects waiting to connect to the grid represents more than double the capacity of today’s entire electric system. Pipeline bottlenecks keep affordable natural gas from reaching consumers. Generation bottlenecks keep lower-cost electricity from ever reaching the grid. In both cases, the barrier is not a lack of investment interest. It is a permitting process that cannot keep up.
Permitting reform is the most direct fix. Unpredictable timelines, escalating costs, and uncertain outcomes discourage the capital needed to build. A better permitting process does not mean less scrutiny. It means giving projects with merit a clear path forward.
America’s energy needs will not pause while the permitting process catches up. The investment is ready. The projects are waiting. Congress should pass comprehensive permitting reform now. Americans should not have to wait any longer.
Andryszak is the president CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. Snitchler is president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association.