Presents Case to Senate Committee
AGC continued to press for federal environmental permitting and review process streamlining to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Sept. 7. Holding a hearing on the need for such streamlining given reforms in the most recent highway and transit reauthorization laws (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21)), the Committee sought additional input and AGC delivered. In its statement, AGC highlighted several deficiencies in MAP-21 and FAST Act environmental reforms—including any hard deadlines for agency permitting and review decisions—explained the redundancies that could be more efficiently done without sacrificing environmental stewardship—such as concurrent undertaking of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review and Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting process—and proposed reforms to frivolous environmental citizen lawsuits, among other things.
Earlier this year, AGC testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on this topic. AGC also testified on environmental paperwork reforms before the House Small Business Committee. The association additionally shared its proposals for environmental reform at the requests of the House Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Commerce, among others. The association continues to receive requests for presentations on its ideas and is working with Congress and regulatory agencies to make these recommendations for streamlining the process a reality.
For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at [email protected] or (703) 837-5332.