MARKETS at an INFLECTION POINT
Infrastructure Legal Battles Ahead
Pipeline development in the West faces a complex web of
permitting challenges at the federal, state, and local levels.
Environmental review processes, land-use conflicts, and
shifting regulatory priorities can delay or derail projects that
would otherwise enhance supply security.
At the federal level, there are increasing signs of a bipartisan
consensus that infrastructure permitting reform is necessary
to support energy reliability and economic stability. Across
administrations, policy-makers have taken steps to streamline
the process, with a particular focus on the National Environmen-
tal Policy Act (NEPA).
Permitting and NEPA Reform
In 2023, Congress enacted significant
reforms through the Fiscal Responsibil-
ity Act, which for the first time codified
key elements of the NEPA process into
statute. The law established page and
time limits for environmental reviews
— generally one year for Environmental
Assessments and two years for Envi-
ronmental Impact Statements — while requiring the designation
of a lead agency to coordinate multi-agency reviews. It also
expanded the use of categorical exclusions and encouraged con-
current, rather than sequential, permitting processes, all aimed at
reducing delay and improving predictability.
Under the current administration’s “Unleash American Energy”
policy framework, these efforts have continued and, in some
respects, expanded. At the agency level, the Council on Environ-
mental Quality (CEQ) has implemented key changes to promote
tools such as programmatic reviews and tiering to streamline
project-level analysis. More recently, CEQ rescinded its long-
standing NEPA regulations in 2025 following judicial decisions
questioning its authority and, in their place, issued nonbinding
guidance directing agencies to take a more streamlined and
disciplined approach to environmental review. That guidance
emphasizes faster timelines, greater agency discretion, and a
narrower scope of analysis focused on the direct effects of a
proposed action — consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s de-
cision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County.
In addition, CEQ has directed federal agencies to revise their
own NEPA implementing procedures — often using a standard-
ized template that reflects earlier efficiency-focused frameworks
— while allowing those updates to be issued through guidance
rather than formal rule-making. This approach is intended to pro-
mote consistency across agencies while also introducing greater
flexibility and speed in how NEPA reviews are conducted.
Taken together, these actions reflect a sustained federal effort
to impose greater predictability in the NEPA process. However,
they stop short of resolving the more structural constraints facing
energy infrastructure development. Project time-lines remain in-
fluenced by litigation risk, overlapping federal and state permit-
ting requirements, and ongoing uncertainty as agencies transition
to new NEPA procedures. As a result, while the process may be
evolving toward greater efficiency, it remains far from stream-
lined in practice — particularly for large-scale energy projects
such as pipelines, where permitting challenges continue to shape
investment decisions and regional supply dynamics.
Looking Ahead: Advocacy and Preparation
Taken together, these trends point toward
a West Coast fuel system that is becoming
more fragile, more import-dependent, and
more sensitive to disruption. Several impli-
cations stand out:
•  Supply diversification is no longer 
optional. Expanding pipeline connectivity
and import infrastructure will be critical to
maintaining reliability.
•  Permitting reform will be central to energy security. Without
it, infrastructure solutions will face unnecessary impediments.
•  Regional coordination is essential. Arizona, Nevada, and
California are deeply interconnected markets; policy decisions
in one state increasingly affect the others.
•  Preparation matters. With compressed supply margins,
contingency planning for disruptions will be key to
managing volatility.
The West Coast is not facing a single-point crisis, but a struc-
tural shift. The question is not whether supply pressures will
emerge, but how often — and how severe — they will become.
In that context, the policy debate ahead is likely to center less on
whether the system is changing, and more on whether the region
is prepared to manage the consequences of that change. Permit-
ting reform advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels should
be a policy priority for the region.
S
WPMA News / Spring 2026 
 31
Marketer Member News
Rules & Regulations

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