The U.S. House of Representatives on April 11 approved legislation led by U.S. Rep. David Valadao that aims to fix the nation’s broken federal permitting process.
“We cannot continue to let permitting red tape kill critical infrastructure projects,” Rep. Valadao said. “This common-sense, bipartisan bill will allow us to better utilize our domestic energy resources, expand rural broadband, build roads, and ultimately create more jobs here at home.”
The Right-Of-Way Application and Transparency Accountability Act, H.R. 6011, which Rep. Valadao sponsored on Oct. 20, 2023 with lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), would require the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture within 90 days to notify applicants for a right-of-way on certain public lands whether their application is complete or deficient, according to the text of the bill.
Since its introduction, H.R. 6011 has gained five more Republican cosponsors and heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
“Right now, there is no required timeline for federal agencies to respond to right-of-way applications for projects on federal lands. That means hundreds of these applications are just stuck in permitting purgatory instead of moving forward,” said Rep. Valadao, speaking in support of his legislation during debate on the House floor.
“The time people spend waiting for answers on these applications is a significant and preventable bottleneck,” he added. “This wasted time is hindering domestic energy production, rural development, new roads, and so much more. My bill would fix this.”