Pete Stauber Asks Infrastructure Expert How NEPA Delays Cost Municipalities And Taxpayers Money

5 months ago

During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) questioned American Road & Transportation Builders Association representative, Tony Boals, on the economic impact of NEPA delays.

Transcript

00:00Thank you very much. Before we go, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the hearing

00:05record the following January 2021, Secretary of Order from the Acting Secretary of the Interior

00:11under the Biden Administration, suspending delegated authorities from the Secretary of

00:15the Interior, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Solicitor of the Department of the Interior,

00:19and all of the Department's Assistant Secondaries meant to slow down the NEPA's process.

00:24Without objection, so ordered. I will now recognize myself for five minutes. Mr. Bowles,

00:32thank you for joining us today. When we talk about NEPA, a lot of times we talk about the big projects,

00:39the mining projects, the transmission, the solar, the wind, etc. But your testimony is important

00:45because it reminds us that NEPA's failures, what NEPA's failures are having that impact American

00:52citizens on even smaller projects, those traditional roads and bridge projects that you build. Can

00:59you expand on the practical impacts that delays from NEPA often have on the fate of a project,

01:04as well as the local county and state governments that are seeking to build a road or a bridge or

01:09other traditional infrastructure? Thank you. Typically, the contractor comes in downstream of

01:19the NEPA process. But where we see challenges is with the state DOTs and other owners as they attempt

01:28to go through the NEPA process. Just the uncertainty of the process causes them, causes delays. It causes

01:38budgets to be understated because of basically time is money and the longer that it takes to get

01:46approvals. I think the NEPA process is good though to give communities and give the area a chance to

01:55look and see how the project will affect the area both economically, geographically. But the delays and just

02:10if you could standardize a process and stick to the process and let the process be the process and

02:19everybody would understand what was expected. And I think that you stated something really important. It's

02:28the clarity, the certainty that you need because that investment dollars have to be, have to meet the

02:35scope of the project. When you delay, it just gets, it just gets more expensive as it goes along. I mean,

02:41I will just give you an example. I was a former chair of St. Louis County, Minnesota Transportation.

02:46And so if you had a project that was held up by NEPA and you didn't start it or didn't get finished by

02:54early November, the ground's frozen. And then you don't get startup until road restrictions come off in

03:00late April or early May. That's a half a year. And we know that when we delay that,

03:06it costs more money the following year. And I will tell you that money comes from the taxpayers.

03:12It comes from the local municipalities that have to upfront that fund increase. And it's not,

03:19it's not easily done. It's not nice to do. That's why these projects, the certainty, the timeline,

03:24the timeframes, once you've met the environmental and labor standards, you ought to be able to go

03:30forward. Mr. Campbell, as an electric cooperative, the infrastructure you develop, build and utilize

03:39for delivery of electricity to customers is owned by the customers and individual cooperative members.

03:44Is that correct? That is correct. Ultimately, who pays the price for NEPA reviews? Is it these same

03:53customers and cooperative members? Yes. Our consumers are our investors.

03:59So every time there's a lawsuit, your members have to pay. Is that correct?

04:05That is correct. And I think there was a gentleman, a congressman that stated earlier that he had heard

04:11that some environmental attorneys are charging $750 an hour. We have to pay those $650 to $700 an hour

04:19for their work. When NEPA reviews face lawsuits and drag on weeks, months or years longer than they

04:28should, who pays the increased costs and attorney's fees for these frivolous lawsuits? Is it the same

04:34customers I just mentioned and cooperative members? Yes, it's the end consumers. And so

04:39every time there's a lawsuit, it's passed on to your customers that are looking for reliable,

04:44affordable energy, correct? That is correct. So just to confirm, isn't it a massive face

04:51as corporations that ultimately have to pay the price? It's not. It's the customers that you serve.

04:59It's individual Americans that have to pay these drawn out over litigated NEPA reviews that are often

05:05challenged by a cottage industry of environmental NGOs like the Natural Resources Defense Council. Many of

05:13these NGOs get their money through American taxes and then they fight for these good projects using

05:20American tax dollars often. And I think it's a shame that this cottage industry of of lawyers,

05:28environmental NGOs like the Natural Resources Defense Council, among others, among many, continue to

05:34weaponize the NEPA on the backs of hard-working, everyday Americans that just want affordable,

05:40reliable electricity and affordable, reliable, traditional infrastructure. And I will yield my time's up.

Pete Stauber Asks Infrastructure Expert How NEPA Delays Cost Municipalities And Taxpayers Money

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