What started as an overly vague single paragraph statue is now 25 pages of regulations, 1500 court cases and hundreds of pending lawsuits that are blocking important projects and economic growth in our region. We can and must do better.  Since NEPA was enacted in 1970, no government agency has ever reviewed the legislation to see if it is working or if it needs to be improved.  

Everyone can agree that when NEPA was passed, it served an important and laudable goal, to ensure that federal agencies would consider environmental concerns when making decisions.  Yet after 35 years Congress needs to take a closer look at the NEPA and determine whether the law’s original intent is being fulfilled. This law has a major impact on our region and country on an everyday basis. We must review its effects to ensure the best outcomes, for both the environment and our economy.

We can all agree that the environment is important to our quality of life – we share the goal of clean water, clean air and making sure we do our part to protect our environment.  That is why we need to make sure our laws are working, and sometimes that requires a different approach.

This past week I had the honor of being appointed by the Chairman of the House Resources Committee, Richard Pombo, to lead a taskforce on improving the National Environmental Policy Act. The taskforce is a bipartisan group of Resources Committee Members that have been charged with reviewing and making recommendations on improving NEPA.

NEPA has a broad impact on the economy of the Pacific Northwest, from our transportation system, healthy forests, watersheds and our communities. A few local examples:

NEPA has contributed to delays, additional costs and lawsuit that have stalled dredging on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Our river systems play a vital role in our region’s economy –transporting our goods and supporting our tourism – and we can’t afford to ignore these problems.

In our forests, NEPA is delaying, up to two years, the removal of dead and dying “salvage” timber. As a result the value of the tree is lost and cannot be used in our mills.

Finally, many of our transportation projects across the state have fallen victim to delays due to NEPA. Highway 12 and the North South Freeway are a vital part of our region’s transportation system and construction on road improvements have been delayed for years. The City of Wenatchee almost lost federal highway funds due to NEPA delays and the City of Richland was unnecessarily delayed in installing traffic lights for public safety.

Too often we are hearing horror stories about endless reams of paper needed to complete the environmental impact statements required by NEPA.  This cost both time and money.  In addition, far too often NEPA battles are being fought in the courts – slowing down projects with the only winners being lawyer’s paychecks.

One of the trademarks of NEPA is to take into account public comment.  With that in mind, the Taskforce believes the best way to get input about how the NEPA process is working is to get outside of Washington, DC and listen to those who are directly affected by the process.  That is why over the next three months, the Taskforce will hold six public hearings across the country to hear testimony from our farmers, our ranchers, developers, the environmental community and others on how NEPA impacts their community, the economy and our quality of life.
I am proud that our first field hearing will be held in Eastern Washington.  We have a number of people who are directly impacted by NEPA and need their stories to be heard.
The final product of this taskforce will be a report laying out facts and make appropriate recommendations.