Building America Again: Senator Alan Armstrong on Fixing Permitting and Energy Policy

**Alan Armstrong** (0:01)
We completed what people didn't think could get done, which was a billion dollar pipeline moving gas out of Pennsylvania into New Jersey.
Project got built. It was a great feat by the permitting teams to work with the states, work with local landowners, work with school boards that were going to benefit from the ad valorem tax, work with the unions to have them bringing their voice to the table. So really great grassroots effort to get that project permitted. It got permitted. It was up and running. It was running at near full load during the middle of the winter. And a federal court came out and vacated the certificate and said, you can no longer operate, because the certificate was not issued correctly by FERC, because FERC did not look at the greenhouse gas bill. Well, there is not a law about greenhouse gas.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:00)
Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things when they have the freedom and opportunity to do so. This is American Potential.

**David From** (1:10)
Everyone, welcome to the American Potential Podcast. I'm your host, David From. Summer's upon us, which means summer travel time.
Engineer Matt, besides the travel that the podcast has planned, do you have any plans to drive anywhere this summer?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:24)
Oh, I don't have any specific plans just yet, but I have a friend who lives in Arizona, and I usually make it a point to get out to Arizona a couple times a year. So I'm thinking about road tripping it, but I'll say the podcast keeps me traveling enough that sometimes I'm like, you know what, I think I'm just going to stay home for a little bit.

**David From** (1:43)
Well, I also know you're a driver. I mean, I know you're in Southern Colorado, and I know we went to Montana, you drove up there. I guess I can't blame a guy for wanting to drive in that part of the country because it's pretty gorgeous. Megan, so I like a good drive myself. I don't mind driving a number of hours because it just seems to be a nice time to center yourself and kind of see this beautiful country.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:07)
It is such a great thing. I love a good road trip and getting out, seeing how much of the country there is to see, that's one of the things we stay in, usually within a few miles of our homes, our work, our offices, wherever, but getting out and seeing the country and seeing it by road is one of my favorite things.

**David From** (2:28)
Yeah, I hope as time goes on, someday I'll rent an RV or something and drive out west, but I've been blessed to be able to get to a lot of beautiful areas in this country and there are so, so many. So now I want to share them with my kids and make sure we see that and make that part of our summer plans.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:45)
Gotta love it. The family road trip, you can't beat it.

**David From** (2:48)
You know, energy plays a big role in our summer plans. You know, are you hoping to get on a plane to get where you want to go? Or loading up the car for a road trip? And when it comes to keeping your house cool during the hot summer months, where are you setting your thermostat at?
So what if Washington could make energy production less expensive simply by getting some of the roadblocks out of the way?
We'll talk about that with today's guest, who spent about 40 years working in the energy industry. He's the newest US. Senator replacing Mark Wayne Mullen after he was named the new Secretary of Homeland Security. I want to welcome to the podcast Oklahoma US. Senator Alan Armstrong. Senator, welcome. Thanks for joining us.

**Alan Armstrong** (3:27)
Thank you, David. Glad to be here. Great.

**David From** (3:29)
Well, I mean, you just started. How's it been?
You figure out where everything is? How are you enjoying your time?

**Alan Armstrong** (3:38)
Good. It's been a lot of learning, but I love learning and it's a new challenge.
I've been in the CEO role for about almost in Chairman role for about 15 years. This was a big change, but one that I've really found fascinating and challenging, and like I said, get to learn something new every day. So it's been good. It's been, gosh, nine, almost 10 weeks now. So it feels like it's been a long time at this point.

**David From** (4:11)
I don't know. Yeah. I imagine it seems like a long time, but then time flies to 10 weeks. Wow.
I know as an organization, as Americans for Prosperity, we're pretty thrilled to have someone with your expertise and experience in the Senate. I mean, it's such an energy production, such an important issue, especially right now. And your experience is so crucial. So I'm excited for this conversation and for the work that you're going to be able to do while you're there in the Senate. But I kind of wanted to go back to just the start of your career. I mean, you're trained as an engineer, you know, why'd you want to be an engineer and, you know, what got you started in the energy industry in the first place?