WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 24, 2026 — American Foundations, a project of Common Sense America (CSA), sent a letter to North Caroline state legislators today, urging them to take decisive steps to strengthen domestic cement production and bolster the state’s critical infrastructure.
“North Carolina’s success in attracting advanced manufacturing, aerospace, logistics, and data center projects demonstrates the critical need to strengthen the basic building blocks of growth: reliable infrastructure, dependable energy, and secure access to high-quality construction materials,” wrote Steve Crim, President and Founder of Common Sense America. “As you outline your agenda for the coming year, we respectfully urge you to champion an approach that ensures North Carolina remains the best place in America to build and invest.”
To bolster domestic production, the letter urges state leaders to prioritize American-made cement in publicly funded projects.
“State policy can play a constructive role in addressing safety and supply challenges through targeted procurement and quality assurance measures,” Crim continued. “Prioritizing American-made, certified materials in state-funded construction projects helps ensure that the structures North Carolinians rely on every day rest on dependable foundations.”
Crim concluded: “As you finalize the state budget, CSA stands ready to work with you to strengthen American manufacturing, reinforce critical supply chains, and ensure that the core materials underpinning North Carolina’s future are produced here at home. Together, we can build a stronger, more resilient state for generations to come.”
See below for the full letter.
North Carolina General Assembly,
Common Sense America (CSA) appreciates your leadership steering North Carolina through a period of extraordinary job creation and investment while continuing to support communities still recovering from Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Your commitment to rebuilding stronger and positioning North Carolina as a national leader in economic growth reflects a vision for a stable, thriving future.
CSA’s work is grounded in advancing American prosperity, security, and self-reliance, with a particular focus on resilient, domestic supply chains. North Carolina’s success in attracting advanced manufacturing, aerospace, logistics, and data center projects shows how critical it is to strengthen the basic building blocks of growth: reliable infrastructure, dependable energy, and secure access to high-quality construction materials. As you outline your agenda for the coming year, we respectfully urge you to champion an approach that keeps North Carolina the best place in America to build and invest.
Modern Permitting as a Competitive Advantage
Lengthy, fragmented permitting and regulatory reviews have slowed mining, energy, and infrastructure projects that are essential to North Carolina’s economic strength and security. When investments that expand domestic capacity, such as cement facilities, manufacturing plants, data centers, and power infrastructure, face unpredictable and overlapping approvals, the result is delayed jobs, higher construction costs, and greater reliance on foreign suppliers.
CSA urges you to champion a permitting model built on clear timelines and coordinated decision-making. This structure can maintain strong environmental and safety protections while giving employers and communities the certainty they need to move forward. In a highly competitive environment, the ability to quickly permit, power, and complete major projects determines where companies choose to invest, and reforms should explicitly include core materials production, so infrastructure is not constrained by avoidable supply shortages.
Ensuring a Reliable Domestic Cement Supply
Protecting North Carolina’s physical foundation also means reinforcing the domestic cement industry on which so much of our progress depends. As the key ingredient in concrete, cement underlies highways and local roads, bridges and overpasses, airports and ports, schools and hospitals, manufacturing sites and data centers, churches and homes. At the same time, domestic cement manufacturers are facing mounting pressure from foreign competitors whose products often do not meet the rigorous standards that American producers follow. When domestic supply tightens and imported material fills the gap, the state risks project delays, cost escalation, and long-term durability concerns that can burden taxpayers and communities alike.
Imports that bypass strong quality standards can create serious public safety issues and impose significant remediation costs. If cement used in North Carolina’s infrastructure cannot be traced and tested against recognized standards, the integrity of our roads, bridges, public buildings, and homes is placed at risk. For a fast-growing state with ambitious infrastructure and economic development plans, ensuring a robust, high-quality domestic cement supply is a matter of both economic prudence and public safety.
Strengthening Procurement and Quality Standards
State policy can play a constructive role in addressing safety and supply challenges through targeted procurement and quality assurance measures. Prioritizing American-made, certified materials in state-funded construction projects helps ensure that the structures North Carolinians rely on everyday rest on dependable foundations. Requiring importers to provide verifiable mill documentation and compliance with recognized technical standards for cement used in public works would bring greater transparency to the market and help safeguard project quality. In addition, recognizing cement as critical to the state’s infrastructure and streamlining approvals for new or modernized cement facilities would support investment, sustain good-paying jobs, and strengthen supply chain resilience.
These steps align closely with the broader direction you have set for North Carolina to expand opportunity, support communities in recovery, and maintain the state’s status as a national leader for business and innovation. The cement and concrete industry contributes over $5 billion to North Carolina every year, and contributes almost $75 million to state tax revenue, while underpinning major projects that drive growth and employment. Ensuring that investments and recovery projects are built with American-made, high-quality cement will support local workers, protect communities, and deliver stronger long-term value for North Carolinians.
Thank you for your consideration of these priorities. As you continue through the process of passing a state budget, CSA stands ready to work with you as you continue to strengthen American manufacturing, reinforce critical supply chains, and ensure that the core materials underpinning North Carolina’s future are produced here at home and used to build a stronger, more resilient state for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Steve Crim
President and Founder
Common Sense America
About American Foundations
American Foundations, a project of Common Sense America, is committed to ensuring that our nation’s infrastructure is built on strong, reliable cement — made right here at home. Learn more at: strongamericanfoundations.org.
###