The political left is going bananas, the socialists are having fits, the Islamists are in a rage and the communists are apoplectic about the news that federal law enforcement has executed a search warrant at the home of Representative Ilhan Omar.  However, there are no specific details about the nature of the federal action. The […]

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America has forgotten how to build, courtesy of a Byzantine permitting process that delays projects for years and often kills them altogether. A new bill could change that, though, and let the U.S. actually start building things again, including badly needed energy infrastructure that would reduce prices.

The current paralysis was made painfully evident this year when the Iran war disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and oil jumped from about $70 a barrel to about $100 in a matter of weeks. Prices at the pump skyrocketed while costs for natural gas, fertilizer, electricity, and more also rose.

America has weathered the supply shock better than most countries because of our shale production, but the cushion is much thinner than it should be. Every stalled well, pipeline, port, and power line is a shock absorber missing from U.S. infrastructure. Energy security is national security, and a country that cannot build cannot be secure.

The bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, unveiled Sept. 30 by Senate committee leaders, aims to fix the permitting paralysis with purely commonsense reforms. It sets a one-year deadline for environmental assessments and a two-year deadline for full impact statements. It gives opponents 150 days to sue, not six years.

It also narrows Section 401 of the Clean Water Act so states can no longer block pipelines on grounds that have nothing to do with water quality. It lets projects keep moving forward while agencies fix paperwork a court has flagged. And it protects issued permits from being yanked by a later administration. It’s the most serious permitting reform in a generation.

And it’s desperately needed. The Mountain Valley Pipeline, which carries natural gas 300 miles from West Virginia to southern Virginia, took nine years to permit.

The National Environmental Policy Act has become the most litigated environmental law in the country, and Section 401 is regularly misused by some states as a veto over interstate pipelines. This is happening while electricity demand is projected to climb 25% by 2030 as new factories, data centers, and electric vehicle chargers come online.

While this latest bill goes a very long way toward fixing the permitting process, it can be better still, and a great place to start is the section expanding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s power to site interstate transmission lines.

Today, states decide where most power lines go. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission holds a narrow “backstop” authority that applies only inside corridors designated by the Energy Department, which has never designated one. The bill scraps that step and lets the commission permit lines of 230 kilovolts or more directly, so long as they meet public-interest, consumer-benefit, and reliability tests.

Accelerating useful transmission line construction is a worthy goal, but the issue here is who pays. The bill says costs of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-sited lines must be allocated to customers “roughly commensurate” with benefits they receive, and that customers getting no benefit, or only a trivial one, can’t be charged, which sounds perfectly reasonable.

But “benefits” are calculated by regional grid operators using their own models and assumptions, and those estimates can be stretched.

That’s happened before, such as in 2024 when MISO, the grid operator spanning 15 states from Louisiana to North Dakota, approved a $22 billion package of high-voltage lines designed in large part to help states like Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan meet their “clean” energy targets with remote wind and solar. Because those lines were classified as “multi-value” projects, their costs are shared across the whole region.

Regulators from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Montana, states with no renewable mandates, filed a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission complaint arguing the benefits were inflated and that the setup lets states with aggressive “green” goals shift their higher transmission bills onto neighbors who made different choices. MISO’s own independent market monitor has raised similar concerns.

Now imagine giving the federal commission power to approve such lines over state objections. Families in red states that rejected expensive and inefficient solar and wind mandates could find the cost of blue-state mandates folded into their monthly electric bills.

The One Big Beautiful Bill rightly phased out the open-ended wind and solar tax credits in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. It’d be a shame if permitting reform quietly rebuilt that subsidy through utility prices, where it is harder to see and harder to repeal.

Fortunately, the fixes to protect families are simple. Congress can define “benefits” more tightly and accurately: reliability improvements, congestion relief, and measurable savings for customers being charged, not compliance with another state’s policy mandates. Benefit claims can face independent market-monitor review before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signs off.

None of this requires scrapping the bill’s core. Americans would benefit tremendously if Congress took a mend-it-don’t-end-it attitude toward this issue to ensure true energy dominance without gimmicks that risk funding subsidies voters already rejected.

Democrat Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado is calling for “immediate answers” after a federal sweep of alleged drug dealers in Skid Row, claiming “residents” are being “prevented from returning to their tents and accessing belongings.”

The Department of Justice announced Thursday afternoon that a joint law enforcement task force swept through the city’s infamous Skid Row area, arresting 23 of 28 defendants charged with drug trafficking. Following the operation, Jurado’s office issued a press release stating it is “seeking an urgent briefing, verifying conditions with community partners and identifying resources for affected residents.”

“Reports that Skid Row residents are being prevented from returning to their tents and accessing their belongings are deeply concerning,” Jurado said. “People must be able to access essential medication, medical equipment, and care, and residents deserve clear information about restrictions affecting their homes and safety.”

Jurado went on to state that while law enforcement described the operation as targeting drug trafficking, the purpose doesn’t “remove the responsibility to protect residents’ rights and well-being.” (RELATED: The Whole City Of LA Is Now Skid Row)

“I am calling on the agencies involved to explain the scope of these restrictions and ensure there is a safe process for residents to obtain essential belongings and reach services,” Jurado continued. “Skid Row residents deserve protection from exploitation and violence, and they deserve dignity and accountability from the institutions responsible for their safety.”

According to the DOJ’s press release, the sweep was part of a Homeland Security Task Force operation, mirroring a previous sweep that occurred in MacArthur Park in May. During the investigation, law enforcement stated that they searched 20 residences, most of which were outside of Skid Row, along with several tents that were allegedly associated with drug dealing inside Skid Row.

The sweep resulted in the seizure of firearms and drugs, including suspected methamphetamine, cocaine, cocaine base and pills, as well as bulk currency and luxury vehicles.

“Today’s operation targeted drug traffickers who prey on some of the most vulnerable members of the community. They targeted the homeless in Skid Row, kept them addicted on drugs like PCP, and took their public assistance money for payment,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli stated on Thursday. 

“We will use every lawful tool to dismantle the networks flooding Skid Row with deadly drugs. Those dealing drugs are looking at mandatory prison sentences. This operation is just the beginning. More to come,” Essayli added. 

In response to Jurado’s statement, Essayli posted on X that the councilwoman and the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN) are “part of the problem in Skid Row.”

“They are fiercely anti-law enforcement and focus their efforts on protecting criminals who exploit the homeless. Under their watch, gangs and thugs run Skid Row, supplying the worst drugs imaginable, stealing money and raping or killing anyone in their way,” Essayli wrote.

“Rather than working with LAPD to arrest drug dealers, LACAN advocates handing out millions of dollars’ worth of needles and crack pipes while harassing officers. We are proud of yesterday’s operation,” Essayli added. “If the councilwoman disliked yesterday’s actions, she will be very displeased in the months ahead.”

Skid Row has long been known as one of the country’s most open drug markets. Reports have often described it as a known spot to buy fentanyl, cocaine, crack, meth and PCP, with street-level dealers conducting hand-to-hand sales out of tents and makeshift structures.

An analysis of Los Angeles Police Department and medical examiner data found Skid Row’s homicide rate was more than 17 times the citywide average in 2024, and “unsheltered people” citywide accounted for 16% of murder victims despite being under 1% of the population, according to The LA Local in July.

Notably, conditions on Skid Row have gone viral online as animal rescuer Joey Tuccio, with non-profit Starts With One Today, has been on the ground for months documenting animal abuse in the area, including dogs that have overdosed after ingesting drugs left around. 

Just last week, Tuccio had been attempting to get in contact with Jurado’s office about the abuse of dogs in her district, such as a dog named Ocean being buried alive; however, the pleas for help had gone unanswered until Wednesday. 

Tuccio posted on Instagram Wednesday that after days of pleading with Jurado’s office to meet with the councilwoman herself, the closed-door meeting—which on-the-ground reporter Jorge Ventura was not allowed to enter—raised concerns about Jurado’s knowledge of what is happening in her district.

Jurado’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.