Plan curbs environmental rules for infrastructure

WASHINGTON — The White House has drafted a proposal to scale back environmental requirements in an effort to make it easier to construct roads, bridges and pipelines across the country as part of an infrastructure plan that President Donald Trump plans to release next month, according to a document obtained by The Washington Post.

The plan would change things such as how officials decide a pipeline route, how a proposed border wall with Mexico would be built and whether the National Park Service could object to a development that would impair tourists’ views from scenic parks.

Administration officials — who have briefed GOP lawmakers, multiple trade associations and other groups about their plans — have emphasized that they are willing to alter elements of the legislative package to win enough votes to pass it in the Senate. But they have made it clear they are seeking to make the most sweeping changes in decades to how the federal government approves and oversees infrastructure projects.

“We have no intention of eroding environmental protections,” Alex Hergott, associate director of infrastructure at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said when he addressed the Transportation Research Board’s annual conference earlier this month. “However, there is no denying that there is duplication and redundancy in the process that is worth taking a hard look at.”

A White House official on Friday described the document as an earlier “discussion draft.” But individuals familiar with the plan said many of the proposals are still the basis for negotiations with lawmakers.

“Smarter regulation doesn’t mean that we are abandoning our responsibility to the environment,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Aides say the president will pitch his infrastucture plan during next week’s State of the Union address and flesh out the details shortly afterward.

Critics of the administration said the proposal, outlined in the document, would gut key environmental protections enshrined in laws dating back to the 1970s, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.

“The administration’s legislative outline for infrastructure sacrifices clean air, water, the expertise of career agency staff and bedrock environmental laws,” National Parks Conservation Association President and Chief Executive Officer Theresa Pierno said in an email.

Trump has argued that voluminous environmental studies should be pared down to “a few simple pages,” and he has made broad declarations about how productive the world would be without complex regulations.

Now, his allies said, the administration is crafting proposals that will convert the president’s words into actions.

“Clearly they are trying to get these things built more quickly. That can be done while maintaining the necessary environmental protections, because a lot of what holds this up is needless, duplicative review,” said Nick Goldstein, vice president of regulatory and legal issues at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. “From now until at least 2020, there’s going to be somebody there considering regulatory reform.”