Lawmakers from both parties as well as representatives of the transportation sector are urging Congress to change environmental permitting rules in order to benefit railway and road projects as they seek to ensure that any legislative overhaul goes beyond the energy infrastructure that now gets most of the attention.
The lawmakers and trade groups say changes to the current system, including the National Environmental Policy Act, are critical for their sector.
“So much of our projects are primarily private dollars. But if they touch a piece of federal infrastructure, then it’s game over,” Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of Association of American Railroads, said in an interview. “We have to go through these processes, and we end up in 10-year reviews for trying to replace a 100-year-old tunnel.”
Advocates of change say they should include shorter timelines for environmental reviews and limits to judicial review, echoing the debate taking place over energy projects. Transportation groups are calling for changes that would make it easier to permit projects in existing rights-of-way, with the idea that projects such as highway expansions would likely have a less significant impact on the environment.
“The status quo isn’t working: The cost of building a mile of highway has tripled over the last 50 years, even after adjusting for inflation,” a group of lawmakers said in a letter in June to House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo. Led by Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif., the 21 lawmakers urged Graves to include project permitting changes in a surface transportation bill the panel is expected to take up this fall.
“Unlocking America’s economic potential can be achieved by accelerating construction, eliminating unnecessary delays, and clearing the way for smarter, faster infrastructure investment,” the letter said.
Lawmakers say many of the fixes are intended to be project neutral and beneficial for all sectors of the economy. The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, for example, released a permitting framework on Sept. 17 that focuses on energy projects, but the shorter timelines for environmental and judicial reviews would benefit transportation and other sectors as well.
The House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing Sept. 10 on a bill introduced by Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., that would include many of the proposals. Both the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association support the legislation.
The transportation groups are also calling for an expansion of a statute known as One Federal Decision that was codified in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. The groups are pushing lawmakers to change the statute in the surface transportation reauthorization.
The statute requires major multi-agency project reviews, whether for federal or non-federal projects, to be managed through a lead federal agency. The law also has requirements for a permitting timetable, concurrent review processes and cooperation between the agencies.
The statute has its origins in an executive order during President Donald Trump’s first term. President Joe Biden reversed that order, but it was then incorporated into the infrastructure law. The Biden administration was later criticized over its implementation.
The transportation industry says the statute could be used to benefit more projects and streamlined to prevent duplicated efforts.
“I think one issue that we are hearing, that some states have run into, is that they’re having to engage in pre-NEPA activities ahead of the federal government doing their NEPA review,” said Prianka Sharma, vice president and counsel for regulatory affairs at ARTBA. “And so we’re hoping that’ll be curtailed by having stronger One Federal Decision authority.”
Beyond the NEPA-centered permitting debate, groups including ARTBA and AAR are calling for changes to the law known as the Clean Water Act in order to speed up permitting.
Republicans have sought changes to the nation’s bedrock water quality law, but proposed legislation hasn’t gotten the same bipartisan buy-in as proposed changes to NEPA. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a bill in June along party lines that Republican leaders said was intended to provide economic and regulatory certainty.
“I think there’s the appropriate level of support, not only in the stakeholder community, but hopefully on a bipartisan basis in the House and the Senate,” Jefferies said of permitting overhaul discussions. “I think you’ve heard positive statements, at least at a high level, from a lot of different folks on both sides of the aisle.”
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