State lawmakers on Monday scrutinized Pennsylvania’s ability to remain competitive in the Mid-Atlantic energy market during a Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee field hearing, where they and energy advocates argued that permitting delays, regulatory uncertainty, and policies affecting reliable generation could push investment and jobs to neighboring states.
“Energy policy is jobs policy, it’s manufacturing policy, it’s affordability policy, and it’s opportunity policy,” testified Nick Kerin, deputy state director of Americans for Prosperity–Pennsylvania during the hearing, titled “Powering Pennsylvania: An Affordable, Reliable Energy Future.”
“Every manufacturer deciding where to expand, every technology company looking for its next investment, every small business paying an electric bill, and every family trying to make its paycheck stretch has a stake in whether Pennsylvania gets this right,” Kerin said.
Chaired by State Rep. David Rowe (R-85) and hosted by Rep. Brian Rasel (R-56) at the North Huntingdon Township Municipal Building in Westmoreland County, the hearing also included Pennsylvania Reps. Eric Nelson (R-57), Abby Major (R-60), Jill Cooper (R-55), and Brian Smith (R-66), as well as four panel participants representing coal, natural gas, a local pro-development citizens group, and a free-market advocacy organization.
Kerin pointed to projected growth in electricity demand across the PJM Interconnection region and said that Pennsylvania faces a choice between capitalizing on its energy resources and allowing regulatory uncertainty to make other states more attractive.
“Pennsylvania can be the powerhouse of the Mid-Atlantic,” said Kerin. “We should not become its blank check.”
Projects can spend years navigating overlapping regulatory reviews, uncertain timelines, litigation, and interconnection delays, he added, noting that “the market does not wait for permitting forever.”
“Every additional year of uncertainty makes a project more expensive and makes another state more attractive,” Kerin said.
Lawmakers could consider items such as firm permitting and interconnection deadlines, one-stop permitting, and elimination of duplicative state reviews where appropriate, suggested Kerin.
“You cannot say Pennsylvania is open for business while making businesses wait,” he said.
Patrick Henderson, vice president for government affairs and communications at the Marcellus Shale Coalition, also brought up the permitting issue.
“We need leadership from the governor to build infrastructure, both natural gas pipelines and electric transmission,” said Henderson. “These interstate projects require advocacy with other states and with our federal government.”
Henderson also urged lawmakers to expand the Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program, and opposed additional taxes on energy production and power generation.
“We urge you to say no to new taxes, be it on power generation or energy production — new taxes are simply taxes on consumers,” he said.
Competitive neighbors
The discussion of regional competition centered on a key concern: Pennsylvania has substantial energy resources, but other states’ electricity demand and policy choices can affect Pennsylvania ratepayers and its ability to attract investment.
For instance, Henderson said low-cost Marcellus Shale gas has reduced Pennsylvania’s reliance on imported energy and lowered utility gas supply costs “down between 50 and 74 percent since 2008,” savings that he said translated to $8.83 billion in 2025 compared with 2008 prices.
John Otto, executive director of the Citizens Energy Council, a coalition of landowners, farmers, business owners, and residents across Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, also tied local economic benefits to energy development.
“Affordability — let’s face it, prices are up, people’s bills are up,” Otto said. “Here’s why: demand is growing faster than supply. And the answer to that problem is sitting right below us.”
Natural gas, said Otto, already supplies 60 percent of Pennsylvania’s electricity and heats more than half of the state’s homes. He also said natural gas saved Pennsylvania consumers nearly $10 billion in 2024.
And he singled out groups and community policy makers that he said oppose energy development.
“You’re not lowering anybody’s energy bill. You’re not paving any roads. You’re not putting new fire gear on a volunteer firefighter,” said Otto. “That money has to come from somewhere, and in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, a lot of it comes from the energy industry.”
The beauty of coal
Matt Mackowiak, director of government affairs at Core Natural Resources, a Canonsburg, Pa.-based coal mining company, testified that Pennsylvania’s coal resources remain important to electricity reliability and affordability.
“Pennsylvania is the third-largest producer of coal in the country, producing about 47 million tons last year,” Mackowiak said. “Coal also proves to be a difference maker when it comes to affordable retail power.”
Higher electricity prices in Pennsylvania are due in part to the decline of coal-fired generation, he said, adding that the state exports about 30 percent of its power to other states in the PJM region. He also pointed to rising PJM auction prices that coincided with consumers receiving higher power bills.
“In summary, higher energy demand and lower supply means increases in power prices,” said Mackowiak, who added that reliable generation should be replaced before it is removed from the grid.
“We can’t afford to continue losing reliable energy sources, and Pennsylvanians can’t afford higher electricity prices as a result,” he said.
During questions, Rep. Rasel asked Kerin how the energy industry could be impacted by the proposed Pennsylvania Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, Senate Bill 333, which is designed to require General Assembly approval for major state agency regulations.
Specifically, SB 333 would mandate a formal vote by the General Assembly before costly new regulations could take effect, shifting power from unelected agency officials to elected lawmakers. The measure has passed the Pennsylvania State Senate and moved to the state House of Representatives for action.
“The REINS Act puts the elected members back in charge, representing… communities,” said Kerin, adding that the improved transparency would allow Pennsylvanians to communicate more directly with policymakers.
“When you increase that transparency, the free flow of communication allows you to represent your constituents better,” Kerin told lawmakers.
Mackowiak also endorsed the legislation, calling it “a great step in curbing the regulatory overreach we see throughout the industry.”
He also cited what he described as regulatory pressures on coal plants and said changes in regulatory policy create continuing uncertainty for the industry.
“Anything that hinders our ability to get coal out of the ground, number one, but also to sell it to an end user that’s actually going to use it to provide reliable power — we need to protect that at all costs,” he said.
Other challenges
Rep. Nelson raised another aspect of the permitting debate: local setbacks and what he called “lawfare,” in which lobbying groups, corporations, or governments use legal channels to silence critics, independent organizations, or smaller rivals who can’t afford a long legal defense.
“I want to touch on the impact of lawfare in the area of setbacks — communities where that loudest voice in the room is forcing municipalities to adopt really large setbacks — and what impact that has on the opportunity to develop energy,” Nelson told panelists.
Henderson answered that it’s important to consider what can be done on the judicial side to rein in efforts “to simply run the clock out and put those looking to invest in Pennsylvania out of business, because they’re going to go elsewhere.”
Kerin suggested that large energy users should have more options for meeting their own power needs, including through microgrids and privately financed generation.
“If a manufacturer or other large employer wants to locate in Pennsylvania and is willing to finance the generation necessary to power that investment, our question should be ‘how do we make this work?’ as opposed to ‘how many years are you willing to wait?’” said Kerin.
Panelists also broached the relationship between energy production and environmental concerns.
The industry has an “awful lot of education to do” about the role of natural gas in everyday life, said Henderson, while Otto noted that energy development and environmental protection aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.
“It seems as though the environmental activists would like us to believe you have to pick energy or the environment,” said Otto. “The reality is energy and environment can coexist.”