Raúl Grijalva: “This amendment attempts to accelerate pipeline construction, and it does so by undermining informed decisionmaking and…”

“This amendment attempts to accelerate pipeline construction, and it does so by undermining informed decisionmaking and meaningful review which falls under the National Environmental Policy Act and other established bedrock laws. We have an extensive record showing that NEPA is not a meaningful cause of energy project delays, period. When a delay does occur, it is usually because of the permit applicant who is causing the delay or because of the lack of funding for agency staff and resources at permitting offices. While we cannot do anything about applicant delays, we have already addressed the other core issue, and we should be celebrating that. Democrats fought to get more than $1 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act to staff up Federal agencies' permitting offices so they would be able to efficiently and effectively process permits. The Council on Environmental Quality has also now told us that because of what Democrats delivered, even the most extensive form of environmental review will, in most cases, take 2 years or less. By the way, that was the target timeline of industry, Trump, and Senator Manchin. Democrats are making quick, but high-quality reviews a reality. Republicans simply want to mandate low-quality reviews or none at all. Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote, and I reserve the balance of my time.”