The bipartisan infrastructure law that Sen. Susan Collins helped craft and pass in late 2021 makes several critical investments in Maine’s core transportation needs. If implemented in a timely manner, these infrastructure investments could help create jobs, strengthen local economies, improve Maine communities, and put us on the path to a cleaner, more sustainable future.
Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Maine is set to receive more than $244 million to construct, repair, and upgrade our state’s roads, highways, and bridges. An additional $48 million has been allocated to help support and expand local public transit systems across the state. Together, these funds have the potential to help build a more resilient, sustainable, and cleaner infrastructure for Maine.
However, without federal permitting reform, many of the projects slated to be funded by these investments could get stuck in a regulatory quagmire as developers are forced to navigate the convoluted federal, state, and local infrastructure permitting processes. As a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation in the Maine Legislature, I have witnessed firsthand the costly delays created by these inefficient systems.
These delays not only impede the physical construction of new transportation and public transit infrastructure, but also add new costs, undermine financial viability, and increase risk for investors, removing considerable incentive to invest in these kinds of economy-growing projects. Ultimately, that just postpones or prevents any anticipated benefits of these infrastructure investments — from economic to environmental — from reaching Maine communities.
Congress should act this year to reform the environmental review and permitting processes in order to help shovel-ready infrastructure projects move forward more quickly and efficiently. There is simply no reason for the permitting process to take as long as it does, with the environmental review stage alone sometimes taking several years to over a decade to complete.
Critically, for a state with as much natural beauty and resources as Maine, streamlining and simplifying the permitting process does not mean we have to lower the robust environmental rules to which our state and country requires for infrastructure development. Permitting reform would simply mean creating more transparency and accountability throughout the process, while ensuring federal, state, and local agencies responsible for approvals are working together better to reduce the bureaucratic hurdles and duplication of efforts that currently add months, years, or longer to project timelines.
But it is not just Congress that needs to act. President Biden signed Executive Order 12866 in April. This order made it more difficult for the regulated community to have direct input on federal rule making. Congress should consider the constraints placed in the executive order and the unintended consequences that arise by restricting ongoing communication with interested parties that are often directly impacted and can offer valuable and relevant information on proposed regulations. As Congress works toward bipartisan permitting reform it is important to consider the impact of this order and bring the administration to the table.
Passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act proved that there is the will for permitting reform among Republicans and Democrats. That is why the Republican caucus in the Maine Legislature recently sent a letter to Sen. Collins urging her to take the next step by working to pass bipartisan permitting reform in Washington. She did such a phenomenal job reaching across the aisle on the infrastructure law; I trust she will do the same when it comes to advancing permitting reform.
The sooner Congress can reform our broken permitting process, the faster Maine can move forward on a range of infrastructure projects that will yield clear employment, economic, and environmental benefits in communities throughout our great state.
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