Op-Ed: Sen. Alan Armstrong: The same permit snare that stops pipelines will stop the grid buildout too

Before being appointed Senator of Oklahoma to fill a vacancy, Alan Armstrong was the CEO of the Oklahoma based Williams Companies, which wants to build the Constitution Pipeline. He wants to introduce legistation that will strip the rights of States to stop harmful Federal projects using the 401 Water Certification.

https://washingtonreporter.news/op-ed-sen-alan-armstrong-the-same-permit-snare-that-stops-pipelines-will-stop-the-grid-buildout-too/

Sen. Alan Armstrong

June 16, 2026

"For years, America’s permitting regime has strangled major infrastructure projects. Processes originally intended to ensure legitimate environmental review have increasingly evolved into de facto veto points. At the center of this dysfunction is Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. 

Congress intended Section 401 to ensure projects complied with legitimate water quality standards, but over time states have expanded its use to evaluate the overall “campaign funding potential” of projects — effectively weaponizing the process to block infrastructure that political leaders oppose.

We have already seen this authority used to kill projects like the Constitution Pipeline. Because there are not clear standards governing these reviews, states can delay or deny permits for almost any reason. The result is a permitting regime increasingly optimized to stop infrastructure rather than build it."

click on this link for the full article...