The US permitting process is shockingly bad. It is both far too complex and also overseen by understaffed agencies so projects get delayed by years which is ver

The US permitting process is shockingly bad. It is both far too complex and also overseen by understaffed agencies so projects get delayed by years which is very expensive. NIMBYS can either use political pressure or environmental lawsuits to delay projects almost indefinitely at low cost to themselves because they are upset about any number of things. Second, the Jones act and other regulations prohibit using most of the knowledge and infrastructure that Europe has built up over two decades. We can't use their ships or sailors. We can't use many of their products while being eligible for federal subsidies. So rather than let their industry build up ours we have to start from scratch. No economies of scale, high risk, less competition, etc. The size of the subsidies available are so large that it'll probably work eventually, and there are some discussions happening about improving permitting. But it's a bit like one department is spending a lot of money to put concrete barriers in the road and then another department is spending a lot on subsidies to install tank treads to be able to drive over the barriers. "But think of all the jobs created in the tank tread installation industry!"