New president, new chance for pro-growth energy policies

The results of this month’s election, however surprising, make clear that Pennsylvanians want a government that embraces growth and manufacturing jobs.

Our state’s unemployment rate, particularly for blue-collar workers, is higher than the national average – and there’s no good reason for that.

Smart policy choices, paired with our state’s historic strength in energy, provide an opportunity to deliver jobs for Pennsylvania.

So as Congress heads back to Washington to work with the Barack Obama White House for a lame duck session and into its new term next year with the Donald Trump administration, there are a few policy items to where our federal delegation should turn its attention.

First, Trump – as well as Hillary Clinton – made spending more on infrastructure a priority.

Yet entirely too much time and money are wasted trying to navigate state and federal bureaucracies in the hope of getting permit approvals.

This goes for public projects, such as roads and bridges, and private projects, such as pipelines and transmission lines – infrastructure we need to take full advantage of Pennsylvania’s coal, gas and nuclear energy resources.

We would do well to have streamlined permitting that allows people to get to work rebuilding our roads and developing the assets needed to move our energy to market faster.

We also need leadership in Washington that ensures the regional offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, which are involved in key decisions for projects that cross wetlands, are acting in a consistent and predictable manner.

That sort of leadership means more money is spent actually building our infrastructure.