Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he wants to work with Congress on permitting changes in the next surface transportation bill, saying the current system of environmental reviews is contributing to the logjam of federally funded projects.
About 3,200 projects from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law have been announced but can’t get started because the Department of Transportation hasn’t signed funding agreements with local sponsors, Duffy said Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Most of the backlogged projects are under review to make sure they meet the administration’s own criteria, but Duffy said the National Environmental Policy Act is another source of delays.
Those delays have affected Democratic priorities like electric-vehicle charging, along with roads, bridges and transit projects. That’s a big reason many Democrats on Capitol Hill have been increasingly willing to engage on permitting law changes.
