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House Clears Bill to Accelerate Construction Permits

Bill seeks to limit the time that environmental reviews can delay projects.


In a bid to create more jobs, the House passed the Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act, a bill that would accelerate the federal permitting process for construction projects.

"Most significantly, the RAPID Act sets hard deadlines, including an 18-month maximum deadline for an environmental assessment, and a 36-month maximum deadline for an environmental impact statement," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.

The House on Thursday approved the latest Republican plan to jumpstart job creation — a bill that would set hard deadlines on environmental reviews that can delay construction projects for years.

Members passed the Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act, or the RAPID Act, in a 229-179 vote.

Like many other deregulatory bills, several Democrats spoke against it but 12 ended up voting for the bill with Republicans.

The bill is an answer to the Republican complaint that environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can sometimes take years, and sometimes more than a decade. In 2012, the House heard testimony noting that the Hoover Dam was built in five years, and the Empire State Building was built in about 13 months — times that are shorter than the duration of some NEPA reviews.

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Source: The Hill

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