Welcome to red tape for hydrocarbons and nuclear
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
This is amusing. Welcome to world of red tape for hydrocarbons and nuclear.
No cutting to the front of the permitting line.
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“Right now, the development of energy projects of any kind takes years because of the hundreds of permitting hurdles that hold up projects in a long and complex process.
In June, the Fiscal Responsibility Act took a step forward in reforming the permitting system by establishing time limits for environmental reviews and providing accountability for missed deadlines.
However, the Biden administration recently issued proposals that could overwrite this progress by adding more red tape to an already difficult process.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced additional reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that aim to expedite permitting for renewable energy projects and infrastructure.
Under the proposed rule, agencies would be allowed to flag certain projects as not having a significant impact on the environment, speeding up their processes while leaving others in the dust.
The Biden administration’s NEPA proposal advances an inefficient permitting scheme and provides yet another roadblock to energy projects in the U.S.
The reforms reverse important provisions of a 2020 NEPA rule that reigned in extreme public comment rules that were setting back project approvals and increasing red tape.
The 2020 changes brought commons sense into the public comment process by eliminating the ability to use public comment to delay.
By changing these rules again, we are codifying “environmental justice” – something that Congress did not intend or include in the Act.
This new Biden proposal perpetuates an inefficient system, and provides yet another roadblock to energy projects in the U.S. …”