U.S. Representative Celeste Maloy of Utah proposed legislation that would drastically cut the time it takes federal agencies to approve permits, a process which for decades has been bogged down by the bureaucracy.
The Full Responsibility and Expedited Enforcement Act (FREE Act), would require federal agencies to approve projects under a “permit by rule” system rather than allow agencies to only approve projects at their own discretion. The permit by rule concept would force agencies to follow what many municipalities do — which automatically approve any project that complies with a set of pre-established rules set by the agency.
The legislation, which recently passed in committee, would have a substantial impact on local efforts to use public lands.
Chuck Hughes, who lives at Sanford Ranch seven miles north of Panguitch, owned two pieces of pasture ground that he wanted to water but there was some BLM land that separated the two pieces he owned. In order to irrigate both parcels, he said he needed BLM permission to run an underground pipeline between the two pastures.
Getting that permission took five years, Hughes said. Because the BLM stretch of sage brush was designated as a sage grouse area, Hughes was required to restore the disturbed ground with a BLM-approved, expensive sage grouse feed seed.
Another individual in Piute County had similar problems with getting permits to make an improvement on BLM land which drew Maloy’s attention in Washington, DC.
Lengthy bureaucratic processes aren’t just a Utah problem, and have also impacted highly-favored renewable energy projects. Recently, a Wyoming power company finally received approval for a wind farm project near Rawlins. The project, which will be the largest onshore wind farm in the nation at 3,500 MW, took 18 years to approve.
These and other incidents prompted a bill that was introduced by Maloy and Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR). Maloy said the FREE Act came as a result of spending much of her career helping Utahns work through burdensome federal permitting processes.
Thirteen other representatives joined as original cosponsors of this bill to direct federal agencies to evaluate their permits and report to Congress within 240 days with an assessment of whether permit by rule can replace their current systems. Agencies would have 12 months to adopt PBR for the eligible permits. Under PBR, agencies must grant all permit applications that meet objective permit standards within 180 days.
Agencies can still deny applicants that do not meet requirements and may verify compliance.
The permitting process is often burdensome and costly resulting in project delays that hinder economic growth and development, Rep. Chavez-DeRemer said.
Other representatives indicated that they met every week with constituents about stalled projects. This permit by rule bill would expedite progress and change the federal permitting process that has been bogged down for nearly 75 years.
The bill now has 24 cosponsors and support continues to grow.
Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse stated, “By implementing permit by rule, the cumbersome permitting process will become more efficient by reducing time spent on routine permits and freeing up agency staff to work on larger projects. I applaud Western Caucus Vice Chair, Celeste Maloy on introducing this important legislation to modernize the permitting process to avoid unnecessary bureaucratic delays on important projects across rural America.”
“Permit by rule would limit the ability of administrative agencies to use their regulatory authorities inappropriately, which today are being wielded to stop economic growth and land-use activities for the purpose of accomplishing a political agenda,” said Margaret Byfield, Executive Director of American Stewards of Liberty.
“Government was not meant to be weaponized against the people as is too often the case today,” Byfield said. “Permit by rule would help reign in the administrative state and importantly, protect Americans property rights.”
The proposed legislation passed easily out of committee with one major change to the bill, which gave agencies 180 days to approve permits rather than 30 days.
The next step is to have the bill considered on the floor. Representative Maloy is hopeful that it will be considered soon and passed.
– by Elaine Baldwin
Elaine Baldwin – Panguitch
Elaine Baldwin is an Editor/Writer for The Byway. She is the wife of Dale Baldwin, and they have three children, 11 grandchildren and one great granddaughter. Elaine enjoys making a difference in her world. She recently retired after teaching Drama for 20 years at Panguitch High School. She loves volunteering and finds her greatest joy serving in the Cedar City Temple each Friday.