Few lawmakers know how to effectively tackle energy, natural resources, and conservation issues. Someone who is making her mark is U.S. Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming.
Prior to becoming Wyoming’s at-large representative in 2023, Rep. Hageman spent 34 years as a trial attorney fighting radical environmentalists across areas spanning water issues to constitutional law. She primarily dealt with litigation involving the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), representing farmers, energy companies, ranchers, and landowners.
“I'm on the Judiciary Committee and Natural Resources Committee, so both of those committees really dovetail well with my history, my background, and my experience, and I think I'm very fortunate to be able to have that kind of experience here on Capitol Hill,” the two-term congresswoman told Townhall.com.
Like other Congressional Republicans, Rep. Hageman wants to see permitting reform swiftly passed this year. The House of Representatives cleared this landmark modernization bill, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, on December 18, 2025, by a 221–196 margin with significant Democrat support. But the Senate hasn’t taken up the bill yet. This week, E and E News reported that a bipartisan group of Senators convened over dinner to resume talks. The most available polling shows that Americans of all political persuasions overwhelmingly support permitting reform. Passing permitting reform is expected to lower energy prices, modernize our electric grid, and bolster the economy, while balancing environmental protection.
Early in their second term, the Trump administration overhauled NEPA to modernize environmental review. Congress, however, must codify changes to make this permanent. But the window to pass the SPEED Act is narrowing as the midterm elections approach.
“I think it's time for us to look at what are some of the changes that could and should be made,” Hageman added of modernizing NEPA. “I refer to it as modernization more than reform, just because I think it is a matter of updating NEPA in light of all the technological advances that have happened over the last 50 years…”
One of the key aspects of the SPEED Act, as with efforts to modernize the ESA, is litigation reform. Congresswoman Hageman said lawfare has enabled powerful environmental NGOs like the Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, NRDC, and Earth Justice to profit from blocking energy projects and keeping recovered species perpetually listed on the endangered and threatened species lists.
This is clear with the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear, a charismatic megafauna species that has well exceeded its carrying capacity in the region encompassing a portion of Hageman’s state. There are 1,200 grizzlies in the GYE today - well above the established recovery goal of 500 individuals. States like Wyoming, she said, play an outsized role in species recovery.
“Even if a species is on the list, on the endangered or threatened list, it is the state game and fish departments that actually manage those species. They're the ones that monitor them. They're the ones that invest the money in them. Wyoming has spent over $50 million on grizzly bear recovery, as compared to the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)- less than $10,000- so we're the ones who spent the money,” added Hageman.
Wyoming is a great case study for how a state smartly balances conservation of lands with economic productivity. For example, the Cowboy State is home to Brook Mine–a coal mine that is slated to source critical minerals, including rare earth elements. It’ll be the first new mine to open in 50 years. Wyoming, the congresswoman told me, is America’s largest coal producer.
“I think all of these are exciting prospects for what we need to be doing domestically, but we not only need to be mining these materials. We need to re-domesticate the processing we used to process rare earth minerals in the United States,” Hageman added.
On average, it takes about 29 years to open a new mine in the United States. Only Zimbabwe has a more broken permitting regime. Reshoring critical minerals back to the U.S. is a priority for the Trump administration because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) produces 60 percent of the global supply of critical minerals and controls 90 percent of processing.
Rep. Hageman blames overregulation for our dependence on China for critical minerals and rare earth elements. She said, “We're capable of doing it well. We have the innovation. We have technology. We have the desire. We have the workforce. We have the ability to do these things well, and do them, and continue to maintain our environment, while also producing things that we need.”
In the wake of recent backlash against data centers, the congresswoman mentioned that rising electricity demand can be addressed with abundant, reliable energy projects and can be done thoughtfully without ceding the AI race to China.
“We have to have reliable and affordable energy. It's absolutely imperative to the future of our country. It is a national security issue, but it's also a quality of life and a prosperity issue,” the Congresswoman continued. “We have to continuously be innovative as to how we're going to meet those demands, and we cannot always be naysayers and doomsdayers. We need to be optimistic. We need to recognize that technology makes a difference. That our technological advances have brought us to this moment in time, and we need to be careful. We need to be thoughtful.”
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member