The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) maintains the effort to revise the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) will reduce transportation improvement project delays while maintaining environmental safeguards.
The ARTBA expressed support for the Trump administration’s intent to overhaul the measure through comments submitted to the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
“The nation’s transportation infrastructure needs are too pressing, and funding is too constrained, to continue wasting time and taxpayer dollars on unnecessary project delays resulting from the current NEPA process,” the ARTBA noted.“Everyone involved in this process can continue to serve as good environmental stewards while achieving the efficiencies envisioned in CEQ’s proposal. NEPA modernization is welcome and long overdue.”
Proponents of the revision indicated NEPA was last updated more than three decades ago and viewed the statute as an environment protecting tool.
However, officials said outdated review procedures have delayed needed transportation improvement initiatives for years while offering no tangible environmental benefits.
ARTBA officials said the organization, which was established in 1902 and has more than 8,000 public and private sector members, advocates for strong investment in transportation infrastructure to meet the public and business community demand for safe and efficient travel.