Washington is a place where bureaucracy often seems to trump common sense. This seems especially true with the approval process for refineries and many other important energy projects.

This week, I reintroduced legislation to cut the red tape and streamline the approval process for important energy related projects including gasoline refineries, nuclear power plants, ethanol plants and wind farms. Each of these projects would increase our domestic energy supply, create jobs and help alleviate the high energy prices that Missourians are facing.

Many important energy projects are tied up in red tape, delaying production of the energy we need. Because of the bureaucratic red tape, we have not built a new refinery in this country in over 20 years. We have not built a significant nuclear reactor in 30 years. As a result, we are more energy dependent that ever.

My bill would not relax environmental standards at all. Instead, it would simply direct federal agencies to expedite their review of permits and take actions necessary to accelerate completion of projects that will increase energy production, transmission, or conservation. We need to get those projects moving so we can start weaning ourselves off of foreign oil and combat rising energy costs.

This bill is a step in the right direction, but it is only part of the solution. Congress needs to continue working on solutions that will reduce the cost of energy for Missourians. We need to pass common sense legislation, like this, that makes us more energy independent and creates jobs.

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