What was once acres and acres of oil refineries has been transformed into a new industrial campus in South Philadelphia.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) came to the site, now called the Bellwether District, on May 5 for a roundtable with labor leaders and executives from Bellwether owner HRP Group, to talk about his bill, the Unlock American Jobs and Energy Act. That bill would reform and speed up the federal permitting process.
“The one thing we agree on 100 percent is jobs, jobs, jobs,” said McCormick.
“The things we talked about [at the roundtable] were mostly permitting reform and the importance of speed. And certainty in terms of getting permits, and ultimately to deploy capital in places like Bellwether to ultimately create great jobs for the people of Pennsylvania.”
If signed into law, the new bill would streamline the federal permitting process and help bring greater certainty to approval for energy projects. More than $1.5 trillion in infrastructure projects are facing delays due to federal permitting, which equals $2.4 trillion in lost economic activity and lost jobs.
And once a permit is granted, there would be no going back to try to stop a project, he said.
Some issues the bill addresses are the Clean Water Act, nuclear licensing reform, and exporting LNG.
While he agrees with “appropriate” review, the Clean Water Act, for example, has been “hijacked by the environmental activists to delay projects and eventually kill them,” he said. “Like the three pipelines that have been killed in Pennsylvania since 2019.”
“The key thing is to create a time restraint on how long they have to review,” he said. “For the Clean Water Act, my legislation says a year.”
And if regulators are going to disapprove of a project, they have to explain why.
“The time for approval of major energy projects is five and half years,” he said. “It took three and half years to win World War II. This is craziness.”
“China approves things in a month,” said McCormick, who added that he is a conservationist. “It’s important for jobs…It’s important for our national security.”
Broad + Liberty asked about the blocked pipeline that would carry Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale gas to New England. McCormick said his bill would streamline that process, although New York state might continue to block it.
McCormick, the former Bridgewater CEO, said there’s some $1.5 trillion waiting to be invested, however investors need certainty to invest.
At a press conference following the roundtable with the new DrinkPAK factory rising in the background, McCormick said, “We’re at an enormous moment of change, AI, energy innovation, defense reindustrialization, life sciences. And Pennsylvania is positioned to be at the forefront, to really be the leader for America in all these areas and permitting reform is going to help us get that investment.”
“Winning is a team sport,” said McCormick. “So we need to have Republicans, Democrats, we need to have labor, we need to have CEOs of businesses all come together to make Pennsylvania the leader in this moment of profound change.”
Building Trades President Wayne Miller, thanked McCormick for coming to Bellwether, saying it was “huge for the Philadelphia building trades.”
Bellwether is putting many of his union members to work and also helping with recruiting new people into the trades.
“This is an equal opportunity for everyone in this city to get a job and have a good, sustaining job for life,” said Miller. “We’re not a Democrat, we’re not a Republican. We’re a ‘J.’ And that’s for jobs.”
Broad + Liberty noted that many of McCormick’s bills had bipartisan support and asked if he planned to ask Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to become a cosponsor for the permitting reform bill.
McCormick agreed that he’s made an effort to reach out to Democratic senators, which makes his bills more likely to pass the Senate.
“My job is to get things done,” said McCormick. “As I said on the campaign trail, I will work with anybody to get things done, whether it’s Sen. Fetterman, or Mayor Parker, or whether it’s Governor Shapiro. I’m going to work with anybody to serve the people of Pennsylvania.”
He’s talked to Fetterman, who has been “a great partner” about the bill, he said.
He said he agrees with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker (D) on several issues, including creating jobs and on safer streets.
“The macro picture is Pennsylvania has a lot to offer,” said McCormick, touting major private sector investments in the state from the Nippon-US Steel purchase, to Ely Lilly and Westinghouse to the Hanwha Philly Shipyard.
McCormick believes once the Iran war is over, gas prices will go back down.
But, “if you’re living paycheck to paycheck and gas prices are up a buck, 80 cents a gallon, you feel it,” said McCormick. “And I don’t want to in any way minimize the pressure, particularly on working families. I don’t think investors are making different decisions based on (gas prices) right now.”
One way to bring energy prices down is to create more capacity and permitting reform will help with that, he said.
“Which is going to bring down prices for everybody,” he said.
Pennsylvania has “all these gifts” of energy, water, and people but “we can’t screw it up.”
“The key is to make sure that capital and investment come here,” said McCormick. “And I think the fact that we’re a purple state honestly helps because we’ve got to work together to get things done. I take that seriously…On jobs and economic growth, I hope we can find common ground.”
“Right here in Philadelphia, 1,200 acres, it’s incredible,” said McCormick, about the Bellwether District. “Just three miles south of City Hall.”
HRP Group CEO Roberto Perez said the 1,300-acre Bellwether industrial campus will also host a groundbreaking ceremony for TerraPower Isotopes, a nuclear medicine company on May 6.
“We’re very grateful for the senator,” said Perez. “We like to compete. When you compete, speed to market is everything. So, what’s happening in the commonwealth, at the city level, and the attention we’re getting at the center, means everything to us.”
Linda Stein is an award-winning journalist who’s written for newspapers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Arizona. Before joining Fideri News Network, she was the news editor for Delaware Valley Journal. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Temple University and earned her undergraduate degree from Arcadia University. Contact her at lstein@fiderinews.com.