Testimony of Chairman George V. Voinovich
Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
June 9, 1999

Good Morning. Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the signing into law of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Over the length of its six year authorization, TEA-21 will provide $216 billion for surface transportation infrastructure development and improvements. This level of funding represents a 40% increase in transportation spending above the previous authorization of ISTEA, and, as we are already witnessing, is helping to meet the critical transportation needs of millions of citizens across the country. In addition, the implementation of TEA-21 is helping to provide hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs all over America. I was pleased to support this landmark legislation when it passed last year, not only as Governor of Ohio, but on behalf of all the nation's governors as the Chairman of the National Governors' Association.

One of the pluses of TEA-21 was a legislative provision, Section 1309, that was enacted to ensure that the environmental review process for projects was streamlined to help quicken the pace on the approval of projects. This would help keep much-needed transportation projects on-track, on-budget and without delay. The increased level of funding under TEA-21 allows more projects to be undertaken, which makes it imperative that important sections of the law, like Section 1309 environmental streamlining, be implemented properly.

This is the second hearing that this subcommittee has held on this crucial section of the law. On April 29th, the subcommittee held its first hearing regarding environmental streamlining and project delivery. At that hearing, various witnesses expressed concern with regard to the direction the Administration had been taking under the "TEA-21 Planning and Environmental Provisions, Options for Discussion," which had been issued in March. I had also indicated at the April 29th hearing that I would be very interested to know what the Administration's response would be to what we learned from the witness testimony, and I am pleased that they will have an opportunity to do so this morning.

I cannot overemphasize that the planning and environmental provisions of TEA-21 need to be implemented in a way that will streamline and expedite, not complicate, the process of delivering transportation projects. I, along with a number of other members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, continue to be concerned that the options paper circulated for comment by the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration will not effectively carry-out the intentions of Section 1309, and will actually serve to increase the time it takes to complete planning and construction on transportation projects. It is a subject that I will wish to explore with today's witnesses.

Therefore, I am pleased to welcome our witnesses, Mr. George Frampton of the Council on Environmental Quality and Mr. Eugene Conti, Assistant Secretary of Transportation. For the benefit of the members of the Committee, I had the privilege of meeting with these two gentlemen yesterday to become better acquainted with them, and I appreciate their being here today. It is my hope that the testimony that you both give this morning will clarify the Administration's intentions with respect to streamlining the environmental process.

Thank you.