Beendare
WKR
Will we ever see common sense from the environmentalists?
This week, Biden rolled back common-sense regulatory reforms that had been instituted by President Donald Trump, making it easier for environmental activists to obstruct and delay any infrastructure project that receives even a single dime of federal funds.
At issue is the National Environmental Policy Act, a relic of the 1970s, which empowers environmental radicals to go to federal court to stop any federal infrastructure project. Whether their case is meritorious or not, they can easily cause significant delays.
The cost of interstate highway construction, for example, has tripled since NEPA became law, making the U.S. one of the least efficient infrastructure investors in the entire world. The average environmental review required by NEPA now takes an average of four and a half years and runs thousands of pages long.
And it is not just highway projects that are hindered. Train stations, bridges, waterways, transmission lines, pipelines, solar projects — literally any infrastructure project the federal government funds must go through the burdensome and wasteful NEPA process. Nearby in Alexandria, construction of the Potomac Yards Metrorail Station was delayed by five and a half years thanks to onerous NEPA review requirements.
After three years of study, the Trump administration issued reforms to the NEPA process in July 2020, requiring all NEPA reviews to be completed within two years and setting strict page limits on the reports. These reforms also removed requirements that federal projects had to consider climate change and other indirect environmental impacts in their environmental regulatory assessments.
This week, the Biden administration announced it was rolling back all of Trump’s NEPA reforms. White House Council for Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory said the stricter regulatory requirements “would help ensure that American infrastructure gets built right the first time.”
If it gets built at all. It makes you wonder: Why bother to pass or sign an infrastructure bill when Biden is simultaneously using environmental regulations designed to prevent anything from being built?
more HERE
.
Biden environmental regulations will only sabotage America’s recovery
( Washington Examiner oct 8th)This week, Biden rolled back common-sense regulatory reforms that had been instituted by President Donald Trump, making it easier for environmental activists to obstruct and delay any infrastructure project that receives even a single dime of federal funds.
At issue is the National Environmental Policy Act, a relic of the 1970s, which empowers environmental radicals to go to federal court to stop any federal infrastructure project. Whether their case is meritorious or not, they can easily cause significant delays.
The cost of interstate highway construction, for example, has tripled since NEPA became law, making the U.S. one of the least efficient infrastructure investors in the entire world. The average environmental review required by NEPA now takes an average of four and a half years and runs thousands of pages long.
And it is not just highway projects that are hindered. Train stations, bridges, waterways, transmission lines, pipelines, solar projects — literally any infrastructure project the federal government funds must go through the burdensome and wasteful NEPA process. Nearby in Alexandria, construction of the Potomac Yards Metrorail Station was delayed by five and a half years thanks to onerous NEPA review requirements.
After three years of study, the Trump administration issued reforms to the NEPA process in July 2020, requiring all NEPA reviews to be completed within two years and setting strict page limits on the reports. These reforms also removed requirements that federal projects had to consider climate change and other indirect environmental impacts in their environmental regulatory assessments.
This week, the Biden administration announced it was rolling back all of Trump’s NEPA reforms. White House Council for Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory said the stricter regulatory requirements “would help ensure that American infrastructure gets built right the first time.”
If it gets built at all. It makes you wonder: Why bother to pass or sign an infrastructure bill when Biden is simultaneously using environmental regulations designed to prevent anything from being built?
more HERE
.
