Republican governors discussed their plan for “Unleashing American Energy” at a recent Montana economic conference.
The panel, which included Wyoming’s Gov. Mark Gordon, Montana’s Gov. Greg Gianforte, Nebraska’s Gov. Jim Pillen and Gov. Puerto Rico’s Jennifer González-Colón, cheered on Pres. Trump’s executive orders that are rolling back federal oversight of industry.
“It's a new day in Washington with President Trump,” said Gianforte, who led the speakers.
The governors highlighted Trump’s efforts to fast track energy projects. For example, some review times on federal environmental assessments have been reduced from one year to 14 days, and for environmental impact statements, it’s truncated from two years to 28 days. This is part of the administration’s dismantling of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). It’s a 55-year-old federal act, often thought of as the Magna Carta of environmental policy, that requires federal agencies to consider and assess environmental impacts of a project.
Gordon also cheered the move to streamline the process. He brought up Wyoming’s TerraPower project, which will be a first of its kind nuclear power plant. The project was announced in 2020.
“It took, let me see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, independent NEPA analyses between the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission), the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM),” Gordon said. “That is absolutely ridiculous.”
Gordon said the federal government and states need to get out of their own way, specifically with permitting new energy projects.
“You can regulate by saying, ‘Here's what we would like you to do. However you get there, do it.’ That's cool. That's America,” Gordon said.
Nebraska’s Gov. Pillen said more can be done to get energy projects off the ground. He called for ending the federal permitting process for energy industries, which includes NEPA, citing a Nebraska transmission line project that’s been in limbo for more than a decade.
“We got people that are just continuing to create more roadblocks and roadblocks. We have to end the permitting,” Pillen said. “We gotta steamroll the permitting process.”
However, many conservation groups are raising red flags with Trump’s rollback of NEPA. Earthjustice said NEPA is key for government transparency and accountability, and that actions to dismantle it “fundamentally undermine the public’s ability to participate in federal decision-making processes.”
The governors also discussed the coal market, with an eye toward Montana and Wyoming. The states are home to the Powder River Basin, which is the top producing coal region in the country. The coal market has declined for more than 15 years, even during the first Trump administration. The current Trump administration has promised to bring it back with the attitude of “mine, baby, mine.” However, two recently scheduled federal coal lease sales in the region were a flop.
“We need to get coal leasing out there, and coal companies need to bid more than it costs for a new haul truck for those leases,” said Gordon.
The Montana sale was the first federal sale in the Powder River Basin in more than a decade. But the top bid was for less than a penny per ton. The federal government can only accept bids that are at or above “fair market value” and rejected the bid.
The scheduled Wyoming coal lease sale was postponed without a new date set.
As for generally bringing back economic growth and new energy development, Gianforte said Montana is encouraging it by loosening its tax structure – something opponents have said will only benefit higher income levels. According to Montana Free Press reporting, the Montana Entrepreneur Magnet Act “exempts shareholders of Montana-based businesses from paying capital gains taxes on stock options.”
“Our goal is to get entrepreneurial golden geese to fly here and lay golden W-2 eggs,” Gianforte said.
And with that, the panel concluded. The full livestream can be viewed at Gianforte’s Facebook page.
