Annie Kuster: “This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill…”

“This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended. Mr. Speaker, we can all agree on the need to ensure that construction projects are completed in a timely and effective manner without the need for unnecessary review or red tape. No one can argue that our current permitting system is perfect. But the bill before us today is yet another misguided Republican attempt to undermine critical environmental protections that we all rely on. This legislation will splinter and unnecessarily accelerate the permitting process in a way that impairs the ability of agencies to effectively evaluate the impacts of a given project. Consequently, the bill will weaken the ability of our constituents to understand the impacts of proposed projects and effectively limit their voice in the permitting process. This is particularly true for low-income and minority communities that too often are faced with a disproportionate share of pollution and environmental contaminants. In my home State of New Hampshire, we are intimately familiar with the need for strong public input in permitting processes. As the permitting moves forward on different energy infrastructure projects, I have been working aggressively to ensure that the views of my constituents are heard.…”