Artificial intelligence is reshaping the global economy and fueling a competition that will define America’s future. If Utah, home to the fast-growing Silicon Slopes tech corridor, wants to lead in this new era, we must ensure the energy to power it is available.
Fortunately, Utah is blessed with abundant natural resources and leaders willing to take bold steps. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is one of them.
As chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Lee is a national leader on permitting reform, recently calling for improving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). He’s right. This 55-year-old law has been twisted far beyond its original intent by courts and the federal bureaucracy.
In its current form, NEPA has become less about protecting the environment and more about an endless maze of bureaucratic hurdles and lawsuits that raise costs and delay critical infrastructure development. As a result, common sense energy projects have turned into decade-long nightmares or worse, abandoned completely.
Utah has seen this firsthand. Last year, the Uinta Basin Railway was stalled after a court insisted regulators analyze not just the 88-mile line itself but also consider theoretical drilling and refining that could happen hundreds of miles away.
While Sen. Lee is fighting to change the law, federal agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) can and must take immediate action. President Donald Trump has wisely declared an energy emergency and is taking steps every day to bring more energy online. Agencies like FERC are accountable to the president and must work to fulfill the vision he has articulated.
Here again, Sen. Lee already has Utah’s interests in mind. He has advanced President Donald Trump’s nominations of Laura Swett and David LeCerte to become FERC commissioners, with Swett expected to chair the agency. Now that they have been approved by the Senate, Sen. Lee has the opportunity to hold their feet to the fire. As these leaders take their seats, he can help ensure the agency moves decisively to cut through outdated rules and get energy projects built.
There are clear steps for reform that FERC can take that would have an immediate impact. For example, consider FERC’s “Blanket Certificate Program,” established in the 1980s to fast-track common sense energy projects. The cost cap for projects to be fast-tracked has barely changed since 2006. That was long before the AI revolution, blockchain, smartphones or America’s growing power needs. This must change.
The agency treating pre-approved projects like brand-new builds also adds years of unnecessary delays, making it harder to bring critical Utah and American energy projects online quickly. FERC can change this for thousands of projects by expanding the list of eligible projects in the blanket certificate program so that more infrastructure qualifies for expedited permitting. Doing so would unleash Utah’s natural gas and nuclear potential, help meet the state’s own growing power demand, and fuel the AI revolution nationwide.
The AI age is here, and Utah has the resources, the talent and the ambition to lead. Now Congress and FERC just need to act and implement long overdue reforms.
With leaders like Sen. Lee pressing to get the job done, we can help secure Utah’s energy future and America’s AI competitiveness.
