U.S. Sen. Alan Armstrong is the first person to tell you that the U.S. Senate won’t be the place to accomplish reforms of the nation’s energy permitting.
After being sworn in this week to replace Markwayne Mullin, who became the new Director of Homeland Security, Armstrong was linked strongly to perhaps accomplishing permitting reform in the 7 months or so he will hold the office. And with his background as former President and CEO and also Executive Chairman of Tulsa-based Williams Cos., Armstrong won’t focus on just oil and gas permitting reforms.
“ My goal is going to be to get permitting reform done for all forms of energy,” he told reporters this week at the State Capitol where Gov. Kevin Stitt introduced him. Stitt first discussed Armstrong’s appointment with President Trump.
“I think the fact that I’ve worked with his cabinet, particularly Secretary Burgum and Secretary Wright, I think was pretty important in me to have his support because those gentlemen know how hard I’ve been working to try to get permitting reform done,” added Armstrong.
Permitting might not be the glorified topic such as oil and gas exploration and crews working the big rigs, but it has been a major concern of the energy industry following the administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden where green energy was the leading source of their efforts. Critics complained at the time how those two administrations slow-walked oil and gas drilling permits.
Gov. Stitt, who has emphasized in his administration “all of the above” energy projects, remained critical of how the permitting process is affected by the change of power at the White House.
” We’re all Americans. And from the governor’s perspective, whether you’re in Maryland or you’re in Connecticut or you’re in Oklahoma or Texas, we know to get transmission lines done, to get new projects done, we can’t have pendulum swings. We can’t have Obama killing the Keystone Pipeline and then Trump bringing it back and then Biden killing it again and then Trump bringing it back,” explained the governor. “I just think we can’t have a country that picks and chooses. When you do everything right and you get those permits, we can’t let a new administration come in and kill projects, right?”
The governor said he came up with Armstrong as the pick and did so on his own, after meeting with Senate leader John Thune told him the Senate needed someone who could work across the aisle in getting reform done.
The Governor said Armstrong is “a real shot” at accomplishing the reform.
“But if we don’t fix this, we’re going to lose ground to China, and we’re going to lose ground to other countries that are building electricity generation like this. And whether you believe in wind or whether you believe in oil or natural gas or whether you believe in transmission lines, we need permitting reform done. And this is a great opportunity, and so when Thun told me that, I immediately went to who would be the best person to help the Senate get that across the finish line, and I think it’s clearly Alan Armstrong.”