The federal government was not the federal Government of today. People back then were sturdy and hungry. They were built to work. Now folks are built not to work... Post WW2. Now it seems people are useless and all of the infrastructure could not be built now. Folks couldn't do it....
The Arizona copper mine is the example that keeps sticking with me. A deposit that could cover a quarter of U.S. copper demand, found in 1995 and still staring at a 35-year path to production, matters a lot more now that copper runs through every data center, grid upgrade and defense supply chain. China refines most of the world's copper and has spent years locking up mines abroad, so every year an American project sits idle hands Beijing a little more leverage. The Noe Valley toilet gets the laughs, but the transmission line that took two years to build and fifteen to litigate might be the more telling number. Curious which reform you think has the best odds with the new Congress, since permitting is one of the few areas where both parties have at least talked about a deal.
The solution needs to address lawsuits intentionally used to block projects, or worse, fundraising tools for nonprofits’ justification of existence. I’ve always said “ it it’s going to be built anyways, might as well eliminate the barriers.”
Good piece, Matt. This hits on the exact problem: we have replaced actual building with endless paperwork. Investors can budget for a $6.6 million environmental study, but they cannot budget for delays that have no end in sight. When lawsuits and five-year wait times to connect to the power grid drag projects out indefinitely, the risk becomes impossible to calculate, killing good projects before they even start.
This gridlock keeps happening because of backwards incentives. A company board would fire a CEO who lets vital projects sit stalled for a decade. In Washington, however, politicians and regulators get blamed if a project they approve goes wrong, but face zero consequences when a project dies from delay. Red tape becomes an easy way to avoid responsibility.
The 2026 permitting reforms—strict deadlines, a single review process, and stopping lawsuits over minor paperwork mistakes—bring back the one thing builders need most: certainty. Rebuilding America means judging agencies and lawmakers by real results—on the roadblocks they clear and the projects they actually finish, not the paperwork they create.
How much did the federal government contribute to the construction of the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge?
The federal government was not the federal Government of today. People back then were sturdy and hungry. They were built to work. Now folks are built not to work... Post WW2. Now it seems people are useless and all of the infrastructure could not be built now. Folks couldn't do it....
BTW, my new book, "Can America ever be great again?" takes an engineer's approach to the problems discussed in the essay above.
excellent article and I hope makes people pause.
Can't imagine which political party by and large causes this mess?
The Whigs?
The Federalists?
The Arizona copper mine is the example that keeps sticking with me. A deposit that could cover a quarter of U.S. copper demand, found in 1995 and still staring at a 35-year path to production, matters a lot more now that copper runs through every data center, grid upgrade and defense supply chain. China refines most of the world's copper and has spent years locking up mines abroad, so every year an American project sits idle hands Beijing a little more leverage. The Noe Valley toilet gets the laughs, but the transmission line that took two years to build and fifteen to litigate might be the more telling number. Curious which reform you think has the best odds with the new Congress, since permitting is one of the few areas where both parties have at least talked about a deal.
Matt,
The solution needs to address lawsuits intentionally used to block projects, or worse, fundraising tools for nonprofits’ justification of existence. I’ve always said “ it it’s going to be built anyways, might as well eliminate the barriers.”
Good piece, Matt. This hits on the exact problem: we have replaced actual building with endless paperwork. Investors can budget for a $6.6 million environmental study, but they cannot budget for delays that have no end in sight. When lawsuits and five-year wait times to connect to the power grid drag projects out indefinitely, the risk becomes impossible to calculate, killing good projects before they even start.
This gridlock keeps happening because of backwards incentives. A company board would fire a CEO who lets vital projects sit stalled for a decade. In Washington, however, politicians and regulators get blamed if a project they approve goes wrong, but face zero consequences when a project dies from delay. Red tape becomes an easy way to avoid responsibility.
The 2026 permitting reforms—strict deadlines, a single review process, and stopping lawsuits over minor paperwork mistakes—bring back the one thing builders need most: certainty. Rebuilding America means judging agencies and lawmakers by real results—on the roadblocks they clear and the projects they actually finish, not the paperwork they create.