Editor’s Note: This article appears in Governing‘s Summer 2025 magazine. You can subscribe here.
Power demand is surging. New data centers, factories and the electrification of the economy propel a thirst for electricity not seen in decades. Markets are responding but state and local governments have largely been caught off guard.
The state blueprint for power demand largely boils down to three approaches: reducing permitting and siting barriers, unleashing power competition and embracing regional cooperation. Unfortunately, some states are moving backwards on all three fronts.
All forms of power infrastructure, from power plants to power lines, face growing permitting and siting restrictions. Local ordinances are particularly troubling for wind and solar power, having increased 1,000 percent in the last decade. Permitting for natural gas plants was relatively easy…
