Earthjustice Statement on House Natural Resources Committee Permitting Reform Hearing

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee will hold an oversight hearing entitled Permitting Purgatory: Restoring Common Sense to NEPA Reviews. Earthjustice Action Senior Legislative Counsel Stephen Schima issued the following statement:

“We need a permitting system that is commensurate with the challenges of addressing the climate crisis and building the clean energy economy both quickly and equitably. We welcome conversations on giving federal agencies the funding and capacity to conduct thorough and expedient environmental reviews, but that’s not what congressional Republicans are proposing.

“They’ve celebrated mass firings at federal agencies and clawed back millions in funding for environmental reviews. They’ve cheered the imposition of more red tape on wind and solar projects specifically designed to end them. They attempted to pass a pay to play scheme in reconciliation where they offered to sell the right of citizens to hold the government and industries accountable for pollution in exchange for a small fee.

“This isn’t a serious conversation. Republican-led ‘permitting reform’ efforts are nothing more than a trojan horse for weakening bedrock environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. We need a permitting system that meets our clean energy needs and accounts for both community concerns and environmental protections, not a plan that puts polluting industries in the driver’s seat.”