Earthjustice Action Statement on SPEED Act

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources will hold a markup of the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act (SPEED). The bill, introduced by Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) would dramatically weaken the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by limiting its scope and drastically limiting government accountability efforts when federal agencies fail to adequately consider the health, environmental, or economic impacts of decisions.  

The legislation, which was the subject of a hearing in September, would create waivers of review and public input for broad classes of taxpayer funded projects, limit the use of new science and information in environmental reviews, and significantly limit the scope of impacts agencies consider. The legislation was significantly revised and made worse this week, when Chair Westerman released a new version that goes even further in limiting NEPA and goes as far as to essentially eliminate meaningful judicial remedies.   

In anticipation of the markup, Earthjustice Senior Legislative Counsel Stephen Schima issued the following statement:  

“While we agree in quickly building the transmission capacity, clean energy projects, and clean transportation infrastructure of the future needed to combat climate change, weakening bedrock environmental laws is not the solution. Dismantling existing protections—especially during a lawless presidential administration—will only result in more dirty air, contaminated water, and toxic health outcomes for everyone. Instead of staffing and funding cuts, we must fully empower federal agencies with the staff capacity and resources to implement the smart, efficient, and modern permitting system we all know is possible. We cannot rely on deregulation to get us there.” 

Earlier this week, over 100 organizations sent a letter to House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman highlighting the dangers of the bill and urging the committee to reject it. The groups urged the committee to instead pass the Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration Act and the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act.