Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced a new bill to streamline the federal permitting process, a response to industry leaders’ requests to accelerate approvals for new projects.
The bill introduction comes after the unveiling of a major bipartisan permitting reform bill this week by the leaders of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Sens. Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY).
The Lummis-Budd bill, or the Full Responsibility and Expedited Enforcement Act, would require each agency to evaluate its permitting system and consider replacing it with a system that would need a pre-established “checklist” of criteria to obtain a permit. The approach allows for “automatic permit approval” unless the agency identifies that an applicant has not made proper certifications within a specific time period.
The proposal comes as industry players call for a major overhaul of federal permitting, with projects often held up for years by legal challenges and a complicated approval process.
“In our states, we’re seeing anywhere from seven to 20 years consumed by permitting processes,” Lummis told the Washington Examiner. “And if you don’t have enough capital to last the permitting process out, we’re losing opportunities to produce our own rare earth minerals and other important commodities.”
Currently, the permit process differs by project and sector but can be extremely complex. It can require different environmental assessments, necessitate interagency coordination, and involve legal challenges from a range of interests.
The bill would require agencies to evaluate their permitting system and report back to Congress with a list of permits, requirements, and review systems, and would require an assessment of whether permit-by-rule could replace the current methods. Agencies would have to establish a permit-by-rule application within a year — and allow for applications to be granted if they meet all requirements and are not contested within 30 days. Agencies may audit for compliance if requirements are not met. The agencies would also be required to submit to Congress a report on the progress of transitioning to a permit-by-rule system.
The aim of the bill is to ensure a faster approval process — reducing wait times from years to just 30 days.
Lummis said the permit-by-rule system wouldn’t bypass the National Environmental Policy Act but would rather cover many NEPA requirements through the agency checklists. She said it would be a “much more abbreviated process.”
Lummis also said the legislation is intended to include community engagement. Part of the approval criteria would be letters of support from community leaders.
There’s at least one former agency official who backs the bill: Former Trump Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt.
“This idea has the greatest potential to move the ball forward in a realistic way, in a very positive direction, in a way that can be supported by all constituencies,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Lummis and Bernhardt discussed the idea over the span of years.
Bernhardt also mentioned that if entities did not want to use the permit-by-rule system, they could revert back to the existing system.
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Some states have implemented a permitting-by-rule system. Ohio, for example, uses the method across different agencies for certain types of low-emitting air pollution sources, such as gas stations and natural gas-fired boilers and heaters.
A House version of the bill was introduced in June by Reps. Celeste Maloy (R-UT) and Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR).