Debbie Dingell Asks Harvard Law Professor How Cuts To Federal Workforce Affect NEPA Review Speed

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During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) questioned Harvard Law Professor, Andrew Mergen, about cuts to the federal workforce.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Look, I want to make it clear that I'm always happy to be able to talk

00:06about NEPA. Many of you know that it was my husband, John Dingell, who worked on NEPA as

00:12the original author, was there when it was signed into law, and worked hard his entire career to

00:18keep the balance on this right. Today, though, it continues to be one of our nation's strongest

00:25tools in ensuring communities across the country have meaningful input on major federal

00:31actions. NEPA's directive is clear. The government must consider how a project will affect the

00:39environment. Communities and people affected by the projects must have a fair chance to weigh in

00:46on its merits, and this includes the consideration of environmental justice, climate change, and the

00:53full range of impacts on the land. And as our nation continues to face a worsening climate crisis,

01:00whether people want to admit it or not, it's imperative that the voices of those most effective

01:06in the communities are heard. I do agree that we need modern reforms for NEPA, but the continued

01:13partisan proposals we see from the other side of the aisle just stand to weaken NEPA and undermine the

01:21communities' role in decision-making. This bill was passed and is still considered the Magna Carta,

01:28so communities impacted, have their voices heard. And I've stated I remain open to an honest and open

01:35conversation to find a bipartisan solution to long-term NEPA reform that truly continues to protect our

01:42communities and streamlines NEPA for our projects. There is a misconception here that we need to choose

01:49between protecting bedrock environmental laws or accelerating clean energy permitting. Let me be

01:57clear. We can and must do both. Now I want to turn my attention to the witness today, one of them.

02:05Mr. Mergen, the two variables impacting time of approval timelines is the applicant and the administration.

02:12We hear from across the aisle that the federal review portion of the NEPA review causes significant delays.

02:20Mr. Mergen, during the NEPA review, can you clarify what is the largest contributor to approval delays?

02:27For sure, the largest source of delay...

02:31The largest source of delay is inadequate staffing and inadequately trained expertise. And on the applicant's end,

02:40it's very important that they provide accurate and complete information. I think we've all been in the

02:45situation where the application is incomplete, there's inadequate staffing. These sorts of things

02:51create delays. So, Mr. Mergen, to follow up, are the administration's recent actions, letting employees

02:58go, some will call it firing, related to the federal workforce helping or delaying NEPA reviews?

03:04Ha! Substantially delaying NEPA reviews. We need a trained workforce. I'm not saying we need everybody.

03:12I... you can... you can expedite with AI, with all sorts of

03:17informational tools, but you need a trained workforce and we are losing those people.

03:22So, my final question for you is,

03:25across the aisle, we continue to see attacks on judicial review,

03:28and hear that a majority of NEPA reviews are being held up due to these reviews. Mr. Mergen,

03:34what is the average number of NEPA reviews being challenged in court? And do these delays always

03:41result in an injunction or actual delay? No, the average, I don't know that I have the most,

03:46the most up-to-date information, but it's, it's in the 20% range that are actually challenged. And I

03:53really want to focus on remedy and relief, right? Because the real source of delay, as we all know,

03:59is when an injunction is entered. And courts don't issue injunctions very frequently. And

04:05following the court's decision in Seven County, right, we are going to see far fewer injunctions

04:12entered against NEPA projects. That doesn't mean that those lawsuits can't be helpful

04:17in terms of improving those projects. But as a source of delay, I think we can, we can anticipate

04:23a great decrease in the burden that litigation imposes, with one big exception, right? In order

04:30to defend the administration's NEPA decisions, you need an adequately funded Department of Justice

04:38at capacity. And those people who defend these decisions are also leaving in droves. And that will

04:45be a source of litigation problems. We already see the Justice Department asking for extensions of time

04:51to respond to cases because of the burdens of their workload.

04:55Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have to yield back. But I am committed to working with you all

05:00on a bipartisan permitting reform efforts. But we got to make sure we do it in a way that protects

05:06the communities that we're representing. Yield back.

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