Op-Ed: Rep. Bob Latta and Heather Reams: Permitting reform is the key to American competitiveness

Rep. Bob Latta and Heather Reams explain their plan to boost pragmatic American energy in their latest op-ed.

America must streamline our permitting process to ensure we have the energy to keep America competitive. Too often, we have seen energy production or transmission projects languishing in litigation and redundant bureaucracy for years. As a result, Americans have been unable to fully benefit from our nation’s vast energy resources.  

As a member of Congress and as the leader of an energy non-profit, we know that durable policy change as impactful as reforming our broken permitting process requires public buy-in. This is where federal policy and education from institutions like CRES go hand-in-hand — legislative action will help ensure long-term growth and informing Americans about how this will improve day-to-day life is key to garnering support. We know that passing comprehensive permitting reform will not only create jobs, but spur innovation, and the key is communicating that economic impact.       

Improving federal permitting will create jobs and give business the certainty they need to invest in long term projects. Permitting reform will benefit all sources of energy production, meaning it could also help to lower consumption costs. However, supporting homegrown energy sources isn't just about supporting an American energy dominance agenda — it’s about boosting our local economies and American businesses. Take nuclear, an industry long burdened by red tape that supports roughly a quarter of a million jobs. Or wind, which boasts more than 300,000 jobs across all 50 states. Imagine if we made it easier to bring these job creating energy sources online?

Increased energy production is more important than ever with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).  AI data centers need an immense amount of power  — and one way to ensure we have that energy is an efficient and streamlined permitting process. To put it simply: data centers aren't just a trend; they're part of the next generation of the industrial economy, and we have to be ready to capitalize on their potential. This can be seen in Ohio, which is ranked fourth in the country for volume of data centers. We all use AI in our daily lives, and we need to take federal action to ensure the technology has the energy it needs to power its continued integration into our lives.  

We need significantly more power, at lower costs, and the key is to use every tool and resource available to us. This is more important than ever, and should be a central focus of Washington, especially during this National Clean Energy Week.   

There is so much to be gained from unleashing American energy: strengthening the economy, job creation, and innovation — but we have to get the policies right. Energy production, and the ability to move it, will be the defining need of our generation. As we continue to push pragmatic energy policy in the beltway and beyond, we look forward to working with the Trump administration to put American energy first. 

Rep. Bob Latta represents Ohio’s 5th District in Congress and Heather Reams is the President and CEO of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES).