We are going to move forward here. A panel led by two of our great governors, oklahoma governor kevin and roy cooper. Give a big welcome to them. Yes. Yes. Governor, i think you will open us up. Yeah. Thank you so much, bill. And welcome everybody, we are so excited for you to join us. Infrastructure is one of the most common topics we are asked about as governors. When will the new bridgeville . When will the potholes be text . When will my Community Get highspeed internet . Why is it taking so long to finish . Take your pick. The pipeline. The grid upgrade. Solar projects. You name it. Theres no sugar coating it. The United States is among the slowest nations in the developed world approving and completing Infrastructure Projects. Particularly when it comes to energy. You know, permitting reviews for Energy Products in the u. S. Take, listen to this, six years longer than in china, india, or other European Union nations. That is according to the analysis from ive had Energy Stakeholders in oklahoma tell me that it can take up to ten years, ten years, to fully permit a pipeline project. It takes about six months to build them. You know, the process gets drawn out due to agencies overlaps from the federal government. There are so many ants on that and pile. Bureaucracy as well as litigation. There is one company, i believe their name out, but this is an existing pipeline that is trying to retrofit for carbon sequestration. Its going to take ten years to get that new project approved. This really makes no sense and that is why governors are working together across party lines and state lines on Common Sense Solutions to try to speed up the process to deliver energy and infrastructure benefits nationwide for all americans. In oklahoma, we are working with our neighbors, obviously the mou with the governor of louisiana and also with arkansas, on a hydrogen hub. This is a really cool project, its a Public Private partnership that will lead to development and employment of a hydrogen network. And oklahoma, oklahomas energy story isnt energy story. Oklahoma is like number three and natural gas production. We are so proud of our oil and gas industry. Number five in oil production, but we are also number two in wind energy production. One of four states where 45 of our energy comes from renewables. We believe you need and all of the above approach to really have an affordable, reliable, and if you could. You know, to prioritize the importance of project delivery for projects like these hydrogen hubs. The governors here in the nga. We have created in energy and Infrastructure Working Group in february of 2023, that focused on solutions to streamline the permitting process to address legal challenges and tackle procurement issues. Both congress and the Biden Administration recognize the urgency of the problem. And governors welcomed their actions to include several, we had several meaningful permitting reform in the recent debt ceiling legislation. Those reforms are great start, but we believe much more is needed, including judicial reviews. So those with some of the things we will talk about today. Got a great panel with you. And we need to speed up the delivery of energy and Infrastructure Projects all across all of our states. So now i want to turn it over to Governor Cooper from the great state of North Carolina to give you his thoughts and perspectives. Governor cooper . Thank you governor stitt, and thank you for your work in the state of oklahoma. We have an amazing panel here to talk about infrastructure today. I will brag about my home state a little bit. We are the third Fastest Growing state in the country for the second year in a row. We have just been named the topic for business by msnbc. When you look at their rankings and why they choose what they choose as to what is good for business, number one is obviously workforce, but number two is infrastructure. We have well trained and dedicated and diverse workforce, what we know how important infrastructure is not only to businesses, but everyday families as well. Right now we have a generational opportunity to invest in infrastructure across this country. We have had plans before about things that we needed to do to connect every house and business to highspeed internet to fix our roads and bridges, expand our ports and airports. Now we actually have the funding to do it. So what we are going to be talking about here is how to do it. The first thing that my entire Administration Knows is that we are first going to compete for every federal dollar. And when you do that, i think its important to bring in everybody. Much like President Biden who appointed mayor to try and coordinate things. I have appointed a Pandemic Recovery director who is helping to coordinate our applications for federal funding. We are working closely with local governments, community colleges, universities, private businesses, regulators, and our federal partners, and already we have seen some significant success, as have many of the states across the country. We know that highspeed internet is a critical part of infrastructure, and we had already started this process, what we were doing it with state money, but we had a process going. So this soon as we got American Rescue plan funding, we started using that money, about a billion dollars, to begin the process. Now, we are going to get a billion and a half from the bead money which will help us truly connect all families and businesses to highspeed internet. We also know that connecting people is not just the fiber, its also being able to afford it. Thats why i set up the first in the Country Office of Digital Equity and literacy, and i know many of you all are working to try to get more families signed up for the affordable connectivity program, the acp. We have almost 900,000 North Carolina families that gives them 30 a month. We have also competed for money for offshore wind, and the grid improvement program. We have gone and with duke energy because we know if we are going to build offshore wind off the coast of North Carolina, we need to have the grid to get the electricity back in. With bridges and with a charging infrastructure, with the inflation reduction act, there are so many opportunities. Water and wastewater are already distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to help our small towns and our business is connected with water and wastewater. We do have permitting issues and challenges. Theres a way to do all of this to protect our air and water, and to make sure that permits moved faster. One thing we are doing in North Carolina is i have appointed liaisons between our department of Environmental Quality and all of the new companies that are coming into North Carolina to make sure that Everybody Knows what to do. And its important to make sure that we Work Together to get this done. Weve got three super panelists here today. First, weve got calvin butler, whos the president and ceo of exelon. We have steve woerner, who is the president of National Grid of new england. Obviously, they are working on offshore wind. And we have tony lewis, who is the regional Vice President of state Public Policy and Government Affairs for verizon, with some North Carolina ties. Calvin, we will start off with you if you will. Thank you, Governor Cooper. Good afternoon, everyone. Let me just begin by saying thank you to the governors for bringing this important topic to the forefront. I think the fact that you guys have put this special committee together to talk about this issue goes to show you the change that our industry is undergoing right now. When you talk about the transformation of the Energy Industry, and the infrastructure needs of our country, think in terms of the Energy Industry that we will undergo more change in the next ten years than we have in the last 100. I say that as you guys have both said, its very exciting. Its not only exciting for the communities that we serve, its exciting for exelon employees. Its exciting for the 10 million customers we have the privilege of serving. And the and the great state of new jersey through Atlantic City electric. I have to say that Tyler Anthony and his team are here today. Our customers in delaware, our customers in maryland, baltimore, philadelphia, chicago, and the district of columbia. Why those jurisdictions are important and why do i mention them . I mentioned the because exelon is unique in the sense that we serve some of the most diverse metropolitan cities in the country, but we also serve coastal areas. In milan only jersey. We also serve rural areas where farmland is locked in. They have the same challenges of infrastructure needs but how you addressed them are very different. Governors had talked about that portfolio approach to addressing mass. As exxon we, have to take that same approach. Where we have the privilege of being a combination gas and electric utility. Meaning the gas business represents 12 of our portfolio. We do believe its important for reliability and resiliency of the grid that it must be an all of the above approach. Why else is that important . Its also important for the affordability factor. Because my biggest job is a ceo, through this transformation, is ensuring that this transition is an equitable one for all of our communities that we serve. Because the belief is that if you leave any of your customers behind in this transition, the transition will not be completely. Having said that, it also goes to one of the challenges. The challenges to that permitting question, getting something done, i almost said amen, i could relate to, right . The challenge becomes, our ambitions as a country through ij, the Infrastructure Investment and jobs act, the 1. 2 trillion dollars set aside to go into infrastructure build out, how quickly can we get that within these jurisdictions and make a difference. Whats happening is the ambition is there but our actions are counterintuitive. Were still operating off of 20, 30, 40 year old rules for todays problems. Even looking at our own states, our own jurisdictions, what we find, and i share this with you because its important. As governors, youve all put very aggressive Economic Development goals, you have a commitment within the nda and Economic Development. Youre setting policies. When we go, as your host utility to implement those rules or implement those goals, there is a conflict. The need for us to continue to partner, to collaborate, breakdown silos in this process is critical to get this money to work. The last piece, all say, it goes right to what youre just saying, the workforce. This transformation cannot be done without a qualifying workforce. Therefore, the Workforce Development programs, the infrastructure academies being set up across the country, they have to be critical, must be critical to ensure that we have a talented workforce to move forward. I think thats also important because the communities then feel as if youre doing with them instead of to them. When you go into a Trans Mission conversation, when you go to leah pipeline conversation, if im a community member, the question i get is, where do i see myself in that . Yes, your talk about laying for liability resilience, but no one who lives in our community is working on that pipeline. No one is laying that fiber. So, again, it must be an equitable transition to get this done. So, again, thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to any questions. Steve warner here. Thank you for the opportunity, great remarks, kelvin. I agree completely with everything you said. I truly appreciate the governors and nba pulling this together. We are truly i an inflection point. As you said, kelvin, the work image over the next five, ten, 15, 20 years, its gonna surpass the work weve done in the past 100, far surpass, were committed to delivering a fair, clean, and Affordable Energy transition for all customers and communities. To do that we need to be smarter and building a smarter, stronger, and cleaner energy system. Im gonna highlight three things that are very consistent with remarks you heard from our colleague, kelvin, here. We need to be grounded in what needs to be accomplished in what needs to be built. We need to be clear haugen Work Together, public, private partnership to accomplish that. We need to address significant barriers to getting projects done. The permitting process that we follow in the industry. Some examples, in new england and new york we serve 7 million customers with both power and he. Those are homes and businesses. That means hundreds of towns and cities, right . Across the commonwealth of massachusetts. I served two thirds of those 200, 350 some not towns that we have. Its a beautiful part of the u. S. , as you well know. Delivering energy, were delivering in a world where were experiencing more extreme weather events. Where theres more, it requires us to take actions to build a more resilient system and were trying to drive down Greenhouse Gas emissions at the same time, convert customers, bring more loads to our electric networks. There is monumental volumes, Clean Energy Systems that need to be built, to meet the goal of the region, we need to build an electric grid thats 2 to 3 times bigger than todays. For new england alone, that means ballpark of 15 or more transmission lines to connect offshore wind, to bring more power to serve the region, which we expect that low to at least double, right . If not triple. The shift that will occur, the summer peaking region over to winter peaking region with regard to electric demand. We need to install thousands of miles of new and upgraded distribution lines, hundreds of new an upgraded substations and more robust and secure Communication Networks that will enable us to more efficiently identify issues and expand a system where necessary and avoid unnecessary disruptions to the economy. The good news is that we lost the other utilities in the states will be doing an electric modernization plan, detainee investments that need to be made over the next 5 to 25 years to meet the commonwealth goals. In new york, in support of the climate leadership and Community Protection act weve identified the need for transmission upgrades to 1000 miles of our network. At any given moment, 150 largescale projects underway. And a growing of another hundred and 50. All these projects require engagement with host communities, as calvin talked about. Really agencies that they secure the rights away to accomplish this work. Another example is the collaboration work were doing in new york with effort to support broadband thats being delivered to areas of the state that previously did not have, this is a massive investment and collaboration amongst public and private Partnership Agencies in upstate new york. More broadly, our states are working together to advance proposals to the department of energy. To help offset the costs of and exhilarating investment in, investments in this new infrastructure. Some examples would be our 20 states clean power link, our brayden repowering of the brain play area for breaking an offshore wind. Both of these will connect and create opportunities for offshore wind and other renewable sources to increase our Energy Supplies and help Lower Energy Costs on the commodity side. Also the northeast harden have, involve seven states. Recognizes the need to look for more advanced decarbonize feels to leverage the networks that exist today. What initiatives like these that i mentioned have in common is that this work is being done in collaboration with public and private sector partners, multiple stakeholders and communities that are all coming together to get this work done. As we move from creating this bold ambition into this execution phase where were actually getting these projects built, we recognize theres challenges. Challenges theres projects cited, built, challenges around the cost, securing the necessary supply chain, securing the necessary people, workforce, and acquiring property rights, just to name a few of the challenges. Foundationally, we have challenges, i think which a lot of agreement here, challenges around agreeing on what it means to make an orderly transition to a cleaner, more affordable and more just energy feature. If we Work Together. Those decisions will be much easier. For example, we know we need to make decisions around changing the way we cite and permit larger Infrastructure Projects. We have to move from a series of sequential approvals from multiple agencies to a process that is more streamlined, transparent, and accessible to all. Thanks to the nba and the governors that participated in the working group, as a recommendation on this challenge, it was absolutely spot on. We are pleased that in new york