On September 21, AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr expressed support of a bill to streamline the federal environmental review process for infrastructure projects. Key Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the bill, BUILDER Act — Building U.S. Infrastructure through Limited Delays & Efficient Reviews, this week. “Congressional Committee leaders’ newly-introduced legislation will provide needed enhancements to the National Environmental Policy Act,” Sandherr said.
“This legislation complements the administration’s recent efforts to streamline the environmental review process while continuing to adhere to the same rigorous environmental standards. AGC is eager to work with members of Congress to further improve the permitting process for infrastructure projects that require federal environmental review prior to construction. This new bill codifies many of the positive changes to the National Environmental Policy Act that our association has advocated. These changes would streamline the analyses and processes that have led to litigation and project delays over the years, build accountability and transparency into the review process, and reduce redundancy and duplication of existing work product. Importantly, infrastructure projects will still undergo an environmental review with public input and all substantive environmental rules will still apply.”
The bill complements many of the Administration’s policy advancements found in the AGC-supported revisions to the regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—changes that went into effect in mid-September.
For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at leah.pilconis@agc.org or Melinda Tomaino at melinda.tomaino@agc.org.