If you build it, they will come. Good luck getting a government permit to build it. That’s the hard part. The federal permitting process forces American energy infrastructure to endure a maze of regulations, mountains of paperwork, bureaucratic foot-dragging, and costly studies. That’s all before the court battles begin. The economy and the American people are the big losers. A recent review by the Council on Environmental Quality found that just completing an Environmental Impact Statement takes an average of four-and-a-half years. Add in all the other requirements and seemingly endless litigation, and getting the permit often takes longer than...