NEPA Express: A Need for Sustainable Streamlining for Transportation Projects Without Undermining Environmental Review

Abstract

With the U.S. House of Representatives’ transportation bill, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012 (“H.R. 7”), stalled on the floor, House Republicans have backed away from some of the bill’s more controversial proposals. Among its more well-known provisions, the bill sought to cut federal mass-transit spending and federal spending for bike and pedestrian projects. Additional provisions sought to streamline environmental review. While the $260 billion bill undergoes a rewrite to reattach mass transit funding, the new bill would still include such environmental streamlining.