Rep. Calvert Introduces Bill to Reduce the Cost and Speed up the Construction of Infrastructure Projects
Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) announced he has reintroduced the Reducing Environmental Barriers to Unified Infrastructure and Land Development (REBUILD) Act, H.R. 644, to reduce the cost and speed up the construction of infrastructure projects while maintaining strong environmental protections.
"All too often, unnecessary bureaucratic red-tape slows down and increases the cost of building needed infrastructure projects," said Rep. Calvert. "I have introduced the REBUILD Act to deliver these projects, which provide the foundation our communities are built upon, at a lower cost to taxpayers and on a much quicker timetable. If we fail to stop the dangerous trends of overregulation the resulting delays in infrastructure improvements threaten both public safety as well as the economic growth in our communities."
The REBUILD Act allows any state to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with a designated federal agency that has environmental review responsibilities under NEPA and assume the review responsibilities of that agency. Under the REBUILD Act, states would still be required to uphold the same NEPA standards or greater. By assuming these responsibilities states could integrate NEPA compliance into their own state approval processes, thereby streamlining construction timelines and eliminating the need for redundant reviews at the federal level, all while upholding high standards of environmental stewardship.
The streamlined process is modeled after a pilot program created in SAFETEA-LU (Section 327 - Title 23 USC) that allowed a limited number of states to take on the task of ensuring National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance for highway projects under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In those states that chose to assume this responsibility, the length of time to complete a project review was reduced by an average of 17 months while also ensuring the goals of the NEPA process were not compromised.