The House Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 20 passed H.R. 4776, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, by a vote of 25-18.
The legislation would amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process to streamline environmental permitting for infrastructure projects.
The committee held debate on dozens of amendments offered by Democratic members and on the amendment in the nature of a substitute (ANS) authored by Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR).
All Republican committee members voted to pass the bill and were joined by the Democratic co-sponsor Representative Jared Golden (D-ME) and Representative Adam Gray (D-CA).
The ANS added language related to “permitting certainty” to prevent revocation of project approvals once a federal agency has approved. Representative Golden presented an amendment that clarified the language to ensure that project authorizations and programmatic documents could not be rescinded, except upon a court order or in writing by the main project sponsor.
Rep. Golden’s amendment and the chairman’s ANS were the only amendments to the bill that were adopted.
The ANS also revised and established strict timelines for permit applications, requiring a complete review within 60 days, a 21-day cooperating agency coordination period, and a 30-day final action deadline following the issuance of programmatic documents.
The amended legislation would give agencies new authority to rely on previous NEPA reviews for substantially similar actions. It also adjusted aspects of the judicial review provisions to afford substantial deference to federal agencies conducting NEPA reviews, stipulating that courts may not substitute their judgment for an agency’s environmental effects review.
Many Democratic committee members cited a policy in effect at the Department of the Interior (DOI) preventing permit applications for wind and solar projects on federal lands from proceeding until Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum personally approves them as their reason for opposing the legislation.
Since implementing this policy in July, DOI has not approved a wind or solar project for permitting.
Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-CA) labeled the administration’s posture on renewable energy permitting as a “war on renewable energy” and expressed opposition to the legislation because he views the bill as written would reduce the role of the federal government in protecting the environment and human health.
Other Democratic members took issue with the legislation's judicial review provisions, including the requirement that litigants participate substantively by providing unique comments on NEPA documents to have standing to sue.
Chairman Westerman was appreciative of the bipartisan work on the bill and repeatedly emphasized that it is technology-neutral for energy projects. His comments focused on common NEPA delays that last for years or even decades and on NEPA's original intent as a procedural requirement that does not confer project outcomes.
The committee also passed by unanimous consent a package of seven bills, including two permitting-related items. The first is H.R. 4503, the ePermit Act, which would digitize the federal permitting process, and H.R. 573, the Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act, which would require the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to report annually on the NEPA review process in an effort to identify bottlenecks.
APPA said it supports these efforts to streamline the federal permitting process and appreciates the committee’s efforts to pass legislation that will improve environmental permitting timelines, reviews, and outcomes.
APPA will continue to monitor progress on these NEPA bills as they move to consideration by the full House.
