With full bipartisan support, the full Senate and the Congress as a whole worked together to make changes to streamline this sometimes burdensome process of Environmental Impact Statements under NEPA. We came together, crafted a process which would be easier for the States to implement as they constructed new Highway projects, while still protecting the environment.
Unfortunately, the Administration has completely ignored the law and proposed a regulation which will make the environmental review program even more burdensome.
These proposed regulations were over a year late and, with the comment period closing on September 23rd, I doubt seriously if they will be able to finalize the regulations before the end of this Administration; which might be for the best considering how far off the proposal is from what is required in the law.
It seems to me that a political decision was made to punt this issue to the next Administration, perhaps in order to appease a particular constituent group such as the environmentalists. Even if this rule was finalized as proposed it would have to be reopened next year because it does not follow the law.
This seems to be part of a pattern for environmental regulations. The Administration ignores the law, or the science, or the facts; or sometimes all three in writing regulations. They get sued. They lose. Then they have to start over again. They don't seem to be bothered by the fact that environmental laws and regulations are in legal limbo for months or years nor are they bothered by the costs to tax payers in defending these suits. All they seem to care about is scoring a few points with a few special interest groups with these regulations which are based more on political science than real science.
The proposed regulations ignore the clear intent of Congress, and in some cases, the clear language of the law. I believe the witnesses on the second panel do a very good job in outlining many of these problems. I believe if the proposed regulations are finalized, the government will be sued, they will lose, and the next Administration will have to clean up the mess.