Faster Environmental Reviews

Author: Austin Gae

TOPLINE:

The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) allows companies to expedite the deadlines for completing environmental reviews for projects in the U.S.

BACKGROUND:

[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which was signed into law in 1970, is ostensibly meant to “encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment.” Under the regulations (prior to OBBB), an agency had to complete an environmental impact statement within two years when a proposed action was expected to have significant effects on the environment. The environmental assessment had to be completed within one year if the proposed action would not have a significant effect or would have an unknown impact. NEPA is a purely procedural statute that “does not mandate particular results, but simply prescribes the necessary process for an agency’s environmental review of a project.”

What OBBB Did:

• Allows project sponsors to pay a fee to expedite the deadlines for completing an environmental impact statement to one year, or for an environmental assessment to 180 days.
  • The fee is 125% of the anticipated cost of the environmental review.

Why It Matters?

• The median time to complete an environmental impact statement between 2010 and 2024 was 2 years.
• OBBB’s change will save building projects from unnecessarily slow and burdensome environmental reviews that discourage economic development.

Where Can I Find Changes?

OBBB Section 60026; 42 U.S.C. § 4336f.

BOTTOMLINE:

The federal bureaucracy should not be the obstacle hindering building projects from moving forward. Giving developers the option of paying a fee to expedite environmental reviews will help important projects move more quickly from planning stages to completion. Congress should be applauded for this change, but it should further cut red tape with, for example, by coupling this change with broader permitting reforms. 

This memo is part of the One Big Beautiful Booklet, a collection of more than 60 memos that examine and summarize the major aspects of the One Big Beautiful Bill – the signature legislative achievement of President Trump and the 119th Congress.

more ob3-60 memos