John Garamendi
09/26/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/26/2024 10:28
California Congressional Delegation Calls on Caltrans to Eliminate Redundant Federal Environmental Reviews
WASHINGTON, DC- Today, U.S. Representatives John Garamendi (D-CA-08), Adam B. Schiff (D-CA-30), Scott H. Peters (D-CA-50), Eric Swalwell (D-CA-14), Jim Costa (D-CA-21), Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), Josh Harder (D-CA-09), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), Juan Vargas (D-CA-52), and Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA-38) sent a letter to the California Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin and Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Director Tony Tavares urging the state to eliminate redundant, costly federal environmental reviews for major transportation projects.
Federal law since 2015 has allowed Caltrans to apply to the U.S. Department of Transportation to substitute state-prepared environmental reviews under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in lieu of completing a second, unnecessary federal environmental review at additional taxpayer expense.
In January 2021 at Garamendi's urging, the U.S. Department of Transportation finalized the necessary regulations to implement this 2015 pilot authority so that states with high environmental standards like California could apply to substitute their state environmental reviews for federally funded transportation projects.
"This commonsense reform would effectively cut California's permitting backlog in half for major transportation infrastructure projects statewide, keeping road, public transit, and rail improvements on time and under budget," wrote the lawmakers.
"Californians deserve both world-class transportation infrastructure and their fair share of the generational federal investment under the Biden-Harris Administration's 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That requires your Agency and Department to further streamline the environmental permitting for major projects by eliminating redundant federal NEPA reviews," continued the lawmakers.
"To become a modern state, we must once again remember how to 'get to yes' when it comes to building infrastructure," said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland). "Caltrans can be part of the solution by implementing this incredibly common-sense reform that eliminates unnecessary red tape while fully maintaining protections for the environment. I'd like to thank our Congressional delegation for advocating for this important change."
Garamendi was an original cosponsor of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Biden in 2021. As a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in 2015, Garamendi also helped to develop and pass the 2015 Highway Bill, which established this pilot authority.
In July 2023, Garamendi introduced the "Expedited Federal Permitting for California Act" (H.R.4908), cosponsored by Swalwell and Costa. This bill would make the 2015 pilot authority permanent by substituting state CEQA for federal NEPA reviews. Under current law, this federal pilot authority will expire on December 4, 2027, without ever having been used by Caltrans.
Full Text of Letter:
Dear Secretary Omishakin and Director Tavares:
We write urging your Agency and Department to take advantage of the U.S. Department of Transportation's pilot program authorized under section 330 of title 23, U.S. Code for eliminating duplication of environmental reviews. This commonsense reform would effectively cut California's permitting backlog in half for major transportation infrastructure projects statewide, keeping road, public transit, and rail improvements on time and under budget.
For decades, California's congressional delegation has worked to identify and cut red tape delaying much-needed infrastructure improvements while upholding our state's strong environmental protections and record. That work is more critical than ever as we continue working in Congress to ensure that California receives our fair share of the historic federal funding available under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-58) and similar laws enacted under the Biden-Harris Administration.
As you may know, the 2015 Highway Bill (Public Law 114-94) established a pilot program authorizing the U.S. Department of Transportation to consider requests from states with more stringent laws to substitute state environmental reviews in lieu of completing a redundant federal environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). State environmental reviews pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) are widely regarded as much more stringent than those prepared under the federal NEPA. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation finally promulgated the federal regulation necessary to implement this pilot program for California and the handful of other states with more stringent environmental review laws. However, Caltrans has yet to utilize this federal pilot program to eliminate redundant NEPA reviews for major transportation projects.
We understand that Caltrans has delegated authority from the U.S. Department of Transportation to assume responsibility for performing NEPA reviews on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration, including an agreement for categorical exclusions to the federal environmental review. While we appreciate that Caltrans does its best to perform both the state review under CEQA and the federal review under NEPA either concurrently or in sequence, that is not always successful for every project. Furthermore, we are troubled that Caltrans is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to complete a redundant federal environmental review, with some federal reimbursement for these bureaucratic costs.
At the request of your Agency and Department, we worked with U.S. Senator Alex Padilla to extend from 3 to up to 10 years Caltrans' delegated authority to perform NEPA reviews on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. We also support the CEQA reforms enacted by the State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Newsom in the 2023-24 state budget, which streamlined state environmental reviews for critical infrastructure projects. The next step to fix California's permitting morass so that major transportation upgrades can proceed on time and under budget is eliminating redundant federal NEPA reviews in favor of state-prepared CEQA reviews.
Without action, we are concerned that the U.S. Department of Transportation's pilot program for substituting CEQA in lieu of NEPA will expire on December 5, 2027, without ever having been used by Caltrans, if not reauthorized by Congress. If the State of California requires changes to the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2015 pilot program, we stand ready to consider any such request as Congress begins drafting the next federal Highway Bill.
To be clear, we are not proposing any changes to CEQA or other state laws. Rather, we are simply suggesting that Caltrans recognize that California's state environmental review process makes any federal review redundant, a waste of taxpayer funds, and needlessly dilatory. Californians deserve both world-class transportation infrastructure and their fair share of the generational federal investment under the Biden-Harris Administration's 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That requires your Agency and Department to further streamline the environmental permitting for major projects by eliminating redundant federal NEPA reviews.
Thank you for your leadership and consideration. We look forward to your response.
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