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  • 1 year ago
During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing in July, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) spoke about the length of environmental reviews for construction projects.

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00:00Before we get to questions, I'm going to ask unanimous consent to enter into the record.
00:07This 3600-page EIS from the Surface Transportation Board that considered the impacts of constructing
00:13an 88-mile rail line connecting the Uinta Basin to the National Rail Network. This behemoth of
00:20a document ultimately culminated in the Supreme Court case decided this spring,
00:25Seven County Infrastructure Coalition versus Eagle County. A point I want to make is ask yourself
00:32how many of your neighbors, constituents, or community members would find time in their busy
00:38life to sit down and read 3600 pages of environmental review jargon. It takes the average an adult or an
00:46average adult reads about 50 pages an hour. That means it would take a person nine full business
00:53days of doing nothing else but reading to get through the entire documents from end to end.
00:59The length of these documents acts as a barrier to public participation. It also delays projects,
01:04increases litigation hooks, and harms the environment by delaying projects that provide
01:09environmental benefits. Without objection, so ordered. And Mr. Chairman, in the same
01:15In the same note, I guess I would like to ask unanimous consent to enter the FRA amendments that are
01:21now current law, providing great news in response to your point. Under law, EISs are now limited to 150 pages,
01:29so we don't need to worry about that anymore. With unanimous consent, I'd like to enter that in the record.
01:33Without objection. Thank you.
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