Full SPEED ahead
Several excavators sit along the pipeline route
Permitting reform bill on the fast track to sacrificing environmental oversight and public input
WASHINGTON D.C. (July 25, 2025) — On Friday, House Natural Resources Committee Chair Westerman (R-Ark) and Rep. Golden (D-Maine) introduced the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, a permitting reform bill that would cut the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) off at its knees.
The bill aims to dilute the essential environmental protections of NEPA, a bedrock environmental law. It would largely shut out the impacted public from the environmental review process, downgrade the importance of science in agency decision making, elevate the concerns of extractive industries over those of communities and Tribal Nations and reduce government accountability for complying with the law.
Ronni Flannery, senior staff attorney at The Wilderness Society, made the following statement about the introduction:
“NEPA’s purpose is simple and vital for a sustainable future: ensure we understand the consequences of major building and development projects before they break ground, consider alternatives that may be more protective of people and the environment and engage the public. In other words, look before you leap. That’s not bureaucracy, it’s common sense.
Gutting NEPA won't build faster or smarter — it will just blindfold us and miss opportunities to prevent harm to our public lands and the communities they serve as we rush forward. A well-run review process protects communities, ecosystems and taxpayer dollars. More staff, stable budgets, and meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations and communities from the outset would make the process more efficient without sacrificing environmental safeguards or public input. As a nation, we spend far more responding to crises than preventing them, which NEPA aims to do.”
For more information, contact gaby_diaz@tws.org
