Tell Congress Not To Gut Environmental Laws To Build New Highways

Are you someone who cares about preserving the last of our precious wild places? If you are, then you need to know that there is a bill in Congress which could lead to them being bulldozed to build new roads.

The week of April 16, the U.S. House of Representatives will resume work on its transportation reauthorization bill, HR-7. I will not mince words This bill contains a number of provisions that would be disastrous for the environment. It would gut the protections made by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with respect to transportation projects such as new roads. Among other things, this bill would:

 Set an arbitrary deadline of 270 days for the completion of environmental reviews for new transportation projects. This is not nearly enough time to complete a thorough review. Any project not meeting this deadline would be automatically approved. The agency proposing the project would not have to do anything except run out the clock.

 Eliminate environmental reviews altogether for transportation projects with a price tag of $10 million or less, or where the federal share of the project is less than 15%. This is an arbitrary limitation that would exempt smaller projects.

 Severely limit public participation in the approval of any project. Anyone wishing to file a protest to a project would have to do so within 90 days of a decision. The deadline is currently 180 days.

 The bill would prevent consideration of a large number of alternatives, such as no-build or the consideration of smart growth.

 Exempt a large number of highway projects from environmental review altogether. For example, projects that are proposed within an existing right of way would be exempt.

NEPA is one of our bedrock environmental laws, and it has been on the books for over forty years. It was passed in the early 1970s to ensure that projects sponsored by governments (federal, state or local) do not damage the environment. HR-7 would make this law almost meaningless with respect to transportation projects.

Please call the office of your Representative in the US House of Representatives and ask him or her to oppose these provisions of HR-7. If you don’t know who your Representative is, go to www.house.gov and enter your zip code in the box in the upper right of the page. Or call 202-224-3121.