U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) announced Friday that he had introduced legislation that seeks to nullify the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations Revisions.
The joint resolution of disapproval, S.J. Res. 55, would roll back recently enacted rules that, Sullivan said undermine provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act intended to streamline elements of the federal permitting process. Additionally, Sullivan said, the resolution would reinstate the Trump Administration’s 2020 NEPA regulations.
“I want to thank all of my Republican colleagues for cosponsoring this resolution. A broad coalition in Congress last year included commonsense permitting reforms in the bipartisan infrastructure bill to ensure that projects wouldn’t be stalled by endless review and delay,” Sullivan said. “Remarkably, those important provisions to cut federal red tape, supported by America’s workers, are now being killed by the Biden administration’s new NEPA regulations. The bridges and roads, pipelines and tunnels, ports and runways that American taxpayers were promised will now suffer from an increasing regulatory quagmire. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Sullivan said when NEPA was originally enacted, environmental impact statements (EIS) took on average less than a year to complete, while a current EIS takes, on average, between four and six years to complete at the cost of several million dollars.
“Because of the provisions of the Congressional Review Act, my Senate Democratic colleagues will have to vote and make a choice: Will they capitulate to the far-left radical environmentalists, or will they stand with the American people and the hard-working men and women of this country who build the vital hard infrastructure projects we need?” he said. “There won’t be any hiding from this vote. It will be very interesting to see who my Democratic colleagues stand with. I know who I stand for: the men and women who build our country.”