Bachus Says Speeding Up Review Process Would Create Jobs

Press Release

Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6) today said that streamlining the federal approval process for construction projects would help create jobs and get vital infrastructure projects completed.

Bachus chaired a hearing that examined legislation intended to speed up the environmental review process required for federal projects. He noted that many significant projects across the country, including the Northern Beltline in the Birmingham area, have faced years of delay in part because of a protracted permitting procedure.

"One thing we can all agree on is that we need more jobs and construction jobs are some of the best-paying jobs out there. Unfortunately, a big roadblock to creating more of these jobs is the inexcusably slow review process imposed by Washington on the permitting of new construction projects. It sometimes seems incredibly difficult to get permission in a timely manner for even a small project. When it comes to large projects -- such as the construction of the Northern Beltline in the Birmingham area -- the challenges can be even greater," said Congressman Bachus.

A senior vice president with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, William Kovacs, testified that "the creation of millions of jobs is worth forcing our government to work a little faster." He said reform would generate new jobs not only in the construction industry, but in many other related sectors including heavy equipment, quarries and mining, steel and iron, and truck, freight, and transportation.

Also discussed at the hearing was the twelve years it took to secure regulatory approval for an offshore wind energy project in Cape Code, Massachusetts, which delayed both the creation of hundreds of jobs and the development of a new source of renewable energy.

The legislation that was the subject of the hearing, the Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development (RAPID) Act, is designed to streamline the permitting system while ensuring that all appropriate environmental reviews are performed. Among other things, it calls for the early designation of a lead agency in the review process; addresses duplicative state and federal reviews; sets deadlines for the completion of an environmental impact statement (EIS); and establishes a reasonable statute of limitations for challenges to a final EIS.

Bachus, who is chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, is a cosponsor of the bill.

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