Reducing and Eliminating Duplicative Environmental Regulations Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Alabama for yielding. I rise today in support of my legislation, the RED Tape Act.

The RED Tape Act removes an unnecessary and duplicative environmental review that the EPA currently conducts under the Clean Air Act.

As it stands, the relevant department or agency prepares an environmental impact statement as part of the permitting of a new Federal project, a process in which the EPA is often already involved. After completion of that review, EPA is then asked to go back and provide additional comments on those same findings; hence, the redundant and duplicative nature of the process.

This secondary review of an already-completed environmental impact statement only serves to slow down the critical projects, especially projects in the energy industry.

This bill is about getting projects permitted and getting projects completed, projects that will help us compete with our adversaries in industries like AI and advanced manufacturing.

This bill is not, as has been alleged, an attempt to undermine environmental review. The environmental impact statement must still be completed by the primary agency. This is a process that agencies already have the necessary expertise and capacity to carry out efficiently. In many cases, EPA will still have the opportunity to comment during the initial process as a cooperating agency.

As the name implies, the RED Tape Act simply removes bureaucratic, redundant red tape. Projects will still need to comply with all applicable environmental laws. This is in no way giving a pass to polluters. It is ensuring that economic growth is not stifled by overly burdensome Federal regulations.

Understand what this legislation will do. This is a commonsense bill that leaves basic environmental protections in place while eliminating artificial barriers. I urge all of my colleagues to support its passage on the floor later this week.

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