Max Baucus: “the Senator from Oregon has brought a very valuable addition to the NEPA process. Most of us, when we deal with the…”

“the Senator from Oregon has brought a very valuable addition to the NEPA process. Most of us, when we deal with the National Environmental Policy Act with respect to projects, believe that the policy is right; that is, that environmental alternatives should be considered fully. But we also experience delays, sometimes so long that we begin to wonder, what is going on here? Is there a better way of doing this? All of us have been there. This is the very first very serious effort to try to solve that problem; that is, on the one hand, keep the protection of the National Environmental Policy Act, which I think we all want --this Senator certainly does--but, on the other hand, make sure that the process is streamlined so that it doesn't take quite so long, so the decisions can be made, and so there is a little more confidence amongst the public in what these various agencies are attempting to do. It is simple. It just makes the review process not sequential but concurrent. It should have been concurrent in the first place. Second, it sets up a schedule of review at the start that the agencies must agree on so each agency knows kind of what it is doing first, if that is the theory, and, beyond that, it sets up a consultation process when there is disagreement among the agencies. But it is a very good amendment. In fact, I think that this is going to go a lot further--the effect of this amendment--and help many, many more people than is realized.…”