Can America build big things anymore?
Donald Trump can prove that the answer is still yes — by revolutionizing how America builds energy infrastructure. In the process, he’ll transform our economy and secure our global leadership.
Trump’s opportunity centers on his excellent picks for three key federal agencies: Doug Burgum at the Interior Department, Lee Zeldin at the Environmental Protection Agency and Chris Wright at the Energy Department.
He should charge them with circumventing the National Environmental Policy Act — the biggest barrier to US infrastructure and energy dominance — by creating hubs where energy projects are not only welcome but speedily built.
Let’s call them “American Abundance Zones.”
The need to move past NEPA is clear: The well-intentioned 1970 law has morphed from a simple environmental-review process into a chokehold on infrastructure development, blocking everything from solar projects in Arizona to pipelines across the Midwest to liquefied natural gas terminals in Texas.
NEPA has created a lawsuit factory that leaves America unable to build many small energy projects, while global competitors like China build massive infrastructure in the blink of an eye.
Look at the nearly three-fold increase in Chinese nuclear generation since 2014.
The solution is to set aside designated zones on federal lands where innovators could quickly deploy energy infrastructure without fear of NEPA permitting delays or lawsuits.
That could include nuclear plants, transmission lines, pipelines, grid-scale batteries, wind farms, solar installations and more.
These zones would be easiest to establish in western states, where the federal government owns vast swaths of land.
Yet throughout the United States, even in the East, South, and Midwest, the federal government owns land that can be carved out for this purpose.
Federal law gives the executive branch wide latitude over how federal territory is used — and the Biden administration itself has proposed using this authority to bypass NEPA requirements for geothermal projects.
The Trump administration can go much further.
Trump’s Cabinet secretaries at Interior, EPA and Energy could work in concert to designate abundance zones across the 640 million acres owned by the federal government. Then each of them could take specific steps to make these zones a success.
It starts with the Department of the Interior, which generally oversees federal land. Burgum could streamline land-use review processes and pre-clear suitable locations for rapid development while ensuring responsible stewardship of public resources.
Interior’s Bureau of Land Management could create an expedited program to lease federal lands specifically for clean energy projects, like solar and geothermal, within these zones.
At EPA, Zeldin could establish standardized environmental criteria for all projects within the zones, eliminating the need for project-by-project reviews and speeding up construction dramatically.
Finally, under Wright’s leadership, Energy could help fast-track the approval process for new projects, particularly regarding new technologies like small modular nuclear reactors.
For example, the department could establish general safety standards for such reactors, or could propose a series of standardized designs that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could use to quickly green-light proposals.
This three-pronged approach would open up huge swaths of land for energy infrastructure.
No decade-long reviews.
No costly litigation.
Just American energy dominance — built at what used to be American speed.
And while extreme environmental activists may claim the sky is falling, their catastrophizing can be dismissed as the obstacle it has always been to progress.
Strong environmental protection doesn’t require endless reviews. Good government doesn’t mean strangling innovation in red tape.
And America doesn’t need to apologize for wanting to win the economic race in the 21st century.
More energy is particularly important for America’s leadership in cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence, which requires massive amounts of power — far more than our country currently produces or has credible plans to generate.
More energy would also make feasible innovations like ocean desalination to provide water for growing cities and industry, as well as vertical farming in large buildings, which is more efficient than normal farming on vast tracts of land.
But these technologies aren’t viable right now — because energy isn’t abundant or affordable enough.
The best way to unleash American energy and economic growth would be the wholesale reform of NEPA, or better yet, its repeal.
That seems unlikely in a closely divided Congress, so making the most of federal land is the next best bet.
As new energy projects break ground and get online in short order, they would remind our people of what’s possible if we dismantle the regulatory barriers holding us back.
By creating American Abundance Zones, President Trump can not only usher in a brighter economic future, but restore Americans’ belief that such a future is possible — and worth pursuing, nationwide.
Christopher Koopman is CEO and Josh T. Smith leads energy policy at the nonprofit Abundance Institute.