U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) on July 13 joined 49 of her chamber’s Republican colleagues in introducing a joint resolution to nullify a final rule amending regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
“We need environmental review process reform in this country now,” said Sen. Capito.
Senate Joint Resolution (S.J. Res.) 55 specifically disapproves of the final rule submitted by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) related to the National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations Revisions, which was published in the April 20 Federal Register.
Sen. Capito and her colleagues argue that the final rule will further bog down the federal environmental review process and further delay building infrastructure projects that also would help put Americans to work, according to a summary provided by her office.
“One of the biggest complaints I hear from contractors back home is the NEPA environmental review process — a lengthy and expensive labyrinth of federal bureaucracy,” said Sen. Capito. “Because of the Biden administration’s NEPA policy, all the projects we just invested into with the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are now being bungled in red tape. The administration seems determined to make it as difficult as possible to actually build any infrastructure.”
The final NEPA rule, authored by the White House CEQ, undermines provisions co-written by Sen. Capito that were intended to streamline key elements of the federal environmental review process, according to her summary of the resolution.
Additionally, the NEPA final rule substantially rolled back the Trump administration’s 2020 NEPA regulations, which were the first update of federal environmental reviews since 1978, the summary says.
According to Sen. Capito’s staff, S.J. Res. 55 is a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which provides Congress an expedited mechanism to overturn federal agency regulations. A joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA is afforded special procedures to bypass normal Senate rules so it may be brought for a vote on the Senate floor.
If approved by a simple majority in both houses of Congress and signed by the president — or if Congress successfully overrides a presidential veto — the final rule would be invalidated.
Joining Sen. Capito as a cosponsor of S.J. Res. 55 are U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Hoeven (R-ND), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Rob Portman (R-OH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Richard Burr (R-NC), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Todd Young (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Susan Collins (R-ME).