Industry groups press Congress to limit protracted litigation after environmental approvals
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Summary
Industry witnesses told the Senate EPW committee that protracted litigation after final EAs or EISs can stall projects for years and urged standardized, shortened judicial-review windows and early-stage challenge requirements for critical infrastructure.
Leah Palconis of the Associated General Contractors of America and Jeremy Harrell of ClearPath described the impact of litigation on projects that have completed environmental review and said Congress could shorten and standardize judicial-review windows for critical infrastructure.
Palconis noted existing statutory approaches that limit post-approval challenges in some sectors: "Congress has protected some infrastructure projects with a hundred and 50 day legal limit on challenges," she said, and urged that a similar uniform period apply to other critical infrastructure projects. Harrell recommended narrowing the scope of judicial review to "plain errors" under natural resources laws, setting strict review timelines and re-assessing whether the current system