Cutting Red Tape for Infrastructure Projects

Anyone who has ever built a road, undertaken a water project, or constructed a home knows that the permitting process can hamstring the whole thing. While permits do serve a purpose, there’s no need for them to be overly burdensome or cause massive delays, particularly at the federal level.

While the Clean Water Act has been in place since 1972, some of the Act’s permitting processes have gotten out of control over the years, costing folks time and money. They’ve also been increasingly abused to stop infrastructure projects for reasons unrelated to water quality. It was past time to restore sanity to the Clean Water Act.

That’s why we passed the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act this week in the House, which I was proud to introduce. The PERMIT Act cuts red tape and reduces costly project delays and litigation. The bill makes permitting under the Clean Water Act (CWA) more efficient, consistent, and transparent. These reforms will continue protecting the nation’s water quality while helping states, local communities, and others more confidently comply with the CWA.

Included in the bill are many commonsense reforms, such as codifying longstanding exemptions to the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule for water treatment systems, ephemeral features—like streams that only appear after heavy rainfall, groundwater, and prior converted cropland. It’s time farmers, families, and homebuilders no longer got caught in the ever-changing rule.

It requires the Corps to eliminate the existing backlog of permit requests for Section 404 dredge and fill permits. Folks rely on permits getting done in a timely manner, and the Corps needs to clear the current backlog of more than 3,500 pending determinations. The PERMIT Act also keeps activists from weaponizing the Clean Water Act to stop projects and prevents the EPA from vetoing a 404 permit if the Corps has approved it. These are critical reforms for protecting people and property along our rivers.

There are many more important reforms included in the bill, but the bottom line is that the PERMIT Act will help lower construction costs and utility bills, provide greater regulatory certainty, and get projects done faster. As the Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I also look forward to working on permitting reform in the Highway Bill, which I am currently writing. If we ever want it to be affordable to live in this country again, we have to let builders build again. I’ll continue working to get the federal government off folks’ backs so we can do just that.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves