President Donald Trump’s Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America includes several proposals with substantial environmental features, including expanding the use of federal funds for water infrastructure projects; expanding funding eligibility for revitalization projects under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund); streamlining reforms for federal environmental reviews and permitting; and expanding of the Interior secretary’s authority to allow pipelines across National Park Service (NPS) lands. The outline emphasizes the need to revitalize America’s infrastructure.
spooh / E+ / Getty Images
“The United States no longer has the best infrastructure in the world,” states the White House. “For example, according to the World Economic Forum, the United States’ overall infrastructure places 12th, with countries like Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, and France ranking above us. This underperformance is evident in many areas, from our congested highways, which costs the country $160 billion annually in lost productivity, to our deteriorating water systems, which experience 240,000 water main breaks annually.”
$200 Billion Contribution
The president’s plan calls for $1.5 trillion in new investment over the next 10 years to bring the country’s infrastructure to the top of the class. But announcement of the plan did not prompt the country’s builders to start up their earthmoving equipment. The primary question is where the $1.5 trillion will come from. Under the initiative, the federal government’s share in the total investment would be only $200 billion. The intent is to use that amount to leverage the remainder from state and local governments and private investors. Some believe the plan to speed up federal permitting will prompt those investments, while critics contend that low federal funding (e.g., $20 billion over the next 2 years) is insufficient to contend with even the backlog of infrastructure projects.
Reviews, Superfund, Water, Pipelines
The president’s proposal includes the following environment-related measures:
- Environmental reviews. Under current law, project sponsors of infrastructure projects must navigate environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and permitting processes with multiple federal agencies with separate decision-making authority and often counterviewpoints. The outline proposes a firm deadline of 21 months for lead agencies to complete their environmental reviews through the issuance of a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or Record of Decision (ROD). The proposal would establish a firm deadline of 3 months after the lead agency’s FONSI or ROD for federal agencies to make decisions with respect to the necessary permits. The lead federal agency would develop a single federal environmental review document to be utilized by all agencies and a single ROD to be signed by the lead federal agency and all cooperating agencies.
- Superfund and brownfields. Currently, the brownfields program has a revolving loan/grant fund, but under CERCLA, Superfund sites are not eligible for the program. National Priorities List (NPL) sites are currently not eligible for brownfields grants. The president seeks to amend the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act to include a Superfund revolving fund to facilitate new investment into Superfund cleanup and reuse and provide nonliable third parties a low interest source of funds to perform removals, remedial design, remedial action, and long-term stewardship. Also sought is an amendment to CERCLA to allow NPL sites or portions thereof to be eligible for brownfields grants at EPA’s discretion; this change would make funds available to eligible entities to conduct assessments, complete cleanups, and implement remedy enhancements to accommodate development and perform long-term stewardship.
- Water infrastructure. Proposed changes include authorizing Clean Water Revolving Funds for privately owned public-purpose treatment works, providing more flexibility to projects where the federal fund is minimal, providing the EPA with theauthority to encourage tests and experimentation in the water projects development process to permit the administrator to explore alternative and innovative approaches to overall project development, giving the Army Corps of Engineers wider authority to use federal funds to retain nongovernment contractors, and allowing the secretary of the Army to waive the maximum total cost limitation for congressionally authorized projects.
- Pipelines. Current law delegates to the secretary of the Interior the authority to review and approve rights-of-way across lands administered by the NPS, but only for electric, water, and communications facilities. For pipelines (natural gas and oil) and facilities necessary for the production of energy, specific congressional authorization is needed for each proposed project crossing one of these lands. The president is seeking to give the secretary authority to approve rights-of-way for pipelines and facilities necessary for the production of energy across NPS-administered land in a manner identical to that for other facilities to reduce the delays and uncertainties caused by requiring congressional approval.
The president’s infrastructure proposal is here.