ICYMI: Eastman CEO Mark Costa Highlights Permitting Reform as Key to ‘Revitalizing American Manufacturing’

Last week, Business Roundtable member CEO Mark Costa, Chairman and CEO of Eastman Chemical Company, spoke at Semafor’s World Economy Summit. Costa, who leads the Roundtable’s Manufacturing Working Group, highlighted “Revitalizing American Manufacturing,” a new report released by the CEO-led organization last Tuesday. During his remarks, Costa discussed the structural challenges facing U.S. manufacturers and outlined the five policy pillars from the report’s recommendations, including permitting and regulatory reform, to help expand domestic manufacturing capacity.

Costa said:

• “The permitting situation here in the U.S. takes incredibly long. Just to build a manufacturing plant, it’s three to five years, which includes permitting. For infrastructure, it’s four to five years just to get the permit before you can even start building, on average … We have $1.5 trillion in infrastructure projects that are literally intended to be done right now, and we're going to wait four to five years on average to get it done is ridiculous.”
• “This is a place where Congress … can come together and it’s something I think should be bipartisan to actually streamline permitting in a way that's responsible for safety and the environment but accelerates the rate at which it all gets done.”

In addition to permitting reform, Costa outlined the four other policy pillars central to driving U.S. manufacturing growth, including competitive tax policy, strategic trade policy, energy and infrastructure, and workforce development. 

He added:

• “You have to have a tax structure that is pro-competitive, that supports investment, has a pro-competitive tax rate for the companies, supports R&D, supports infrastructure. You have to have streamlined regulation, which is what’s driving the cost and the time up so much … We have to address trade and make sure there's a level playing field with the world that allows everyone to compete on that basis. We need … our energy and our infrastructure advantages and continue to build them to be more advantaged … And finally, workforce … we don't have the workforce to build and operate all these plants that we're now talking about. And so how do we address those challenges? So those five pillars all have to be addressed in concert, or you’re not going to … bring jobs back here in a sustainable way.”

Watch Costa’s remarks here.  

Read the full “Revitalizing American Manufacturing” report here.

To learn more, about Business Roundtable’s permitting priorities, click here.

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