API: NEPA Reform Strengthens U.S. Environmental Progress, Promotes Infrastructure Development

WASHINGTON, January 9, 2020 – API today welcomed the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), saying the move would reduce the red tape slowing critical infrastructure projects and create jobs across the country while strengthening environmental progress.

“Endless and repetitive reviews for infrastructure, renewable energy, natural gas and oil projects have been misused to delay and derail development, which hurts job creation, reduces tax revenue and saps investments in communities across the country,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said. “Reforming the NEPA process is a critical step toward meeting growing demand for cleaner energy and unlocking job-creating infrastructure projects currently stuck in a maze of red tape.”

According to studies, improving permitting could unleash more than a trillion dollars in private-sector investment, which is critical to meeting growing demand for affordable, reliable and cleaner energy. Last month, the National Petroleum Council reported that “overlapping and duplicative regulatory requirements, inconsistencies across multiple federal and state agencies, and unnecessarily lengthy administrative procedures have created a complex and unpredictable permitting process. While there have been bipartisan actions by Congress and the Executive Branch to expedite the permitting process, more improvements are necessary.”

API represents all segments of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 600 members produce, process and distribute most of the nation’s energy. The industry supports more than ten million U.S. jobs and is backed by a growing grassroots movement of millions of Americans. API was formed in 1919 as a standards-setting organization. In our first 100 years, API has developed more than 700 standards to enhance operational and environmental safety, efficiency and sustainability.

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