This fall Congress has been busy holding hearings and discussing permit reform legislation like the IEC-supported Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act or the SPEED Act (H.R. 4776), introduced by House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR).
On Nov. 20 the committee passed the SPEED Act by a vote of 25-18.
It aims to fix the broken National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process by clarifying which federal actions are subject to NEPA and what information agencies should include in their environmental reviews when preparing NEPA documents. It would also bring common sense to judicial review of NEPA claims by stipulating that the sole remedy available to courts in deciding NEPA cases is to remand the action back to the lead agency to remedy deficiencies, rather than allowing courts to kill the entire project.
All Republican committee members voted to pass the bill and were joined by the Democratic co-sponsor Representative Jared Golden (D-ME) and Representative Adam Gray (D-CA). Because of the bipartisan nature of this bill, it will likely receive a vote on the full House floor in 2026.
House Committees are also busy examining permitting reform specific to clean water (the IEC-supported PERMIT Act H.R. 3898) and clean air regulations.
IEC members are encouraged to share permitting concerns with IEC’s government affairs team to enhance our advocacy efforts to reform the broken federal permitting process.