ICYMI: Club for Growth, Arnold Ventures Co-Host Energy Affordability and Permitting Reform Summit in Ohio

Will Mitola  |   September 4, 2026

Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, Club for Growth and Arnold Ventures co-hosted an energy affordability and permitting reform summit in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, September 3. The one-day event featured key industry leaders, members of the Trump Administration, and elected officials who outlined the path forward for key policies to boost domestic energy manufacturing and bring down prices.

Featured speakers at the summit included:

  • U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright
  • Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair
  • Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH)
  • Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
  • Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH)
  • Sen. David McCormick (R-PA)
  • Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK)
  • CNN’s Scott Jennings
  • Club for Growth President David McIntosh
  • Arnold Ventures Co-Founder and Co-Chair John Arnold
  • Arnold Ventures President and CEO Kelli Rhee

 

“Our whole Department of Energy has been practicing permitting reform by trying to enable it easier to build things, and people look at us like we’re weird with that attitude. But we need to have that attitude and that infrastructure across the government so as technologies evolve and people want to build different things, that they can actually do it.” – U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

“My background, in the private sector, was in a long career in building, investing, and financing energy infrastructure. And more recently, my wife and I have been building a grant-making foundation that tries to use good policy to improve the lives of Americans. And on this issue of energy permitting, those two areas really intersect… We have to find a way to build the needed energy infrastructure in this country while protecting the air, the water, the lands, and the wildlife. We can do both.”  — John Arnold, Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Arnold Ventures.

 

Click here to watch the full event on YouTube.

Click here to watch WBNS-10 TV’s coverage of the summit.

Click here to read Spectrum News 1’s coverage of the summit.

 

To schedule an interview with Club for Growth President David McIntosh, please contact Joe Kildea: jkildea@clubforgrowth.org.

 

STORY EXCERPTS:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Business leaders gathered in Columbus Thursday to push Congress to speed up federal reviews for new energy projects, arguing that yearslong delays are limiting the nation’s power supply and raising customers’ electricity bills.

The message at the Ohio Energy Affordability Summit was direct: “America needs energy permitting reform now.”

Supporters say faster decisions could help bring new power projects online, improve the efficiency of the electric grid and lower energy prices.

…

Summit leaders maintain that expanding the energy supply and improving grid efficiency are necessary to meet rising demand. They argue that federal permitting reform is essential to making that happen.

“If we have permitting reform, we think it will lower most energy prices by up to about 20%,” said David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth.

McIntosh said consumers could begin seeing those savings as early as next year.

Summit organizers want Congress to act before the end of the year and expect discussions about permitting reform to continue throughout the fall.