Today, Congressional Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee marked up the SPEED Act (H.R. 4776) — a bill that would further entrench a sweeping deregulatory environmental and anti-democracy agenda.
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Press Statements
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Press Contact: Ashley Sullivan, ashley.sullivan@weact.org
Today, the House Natural Resources Committee is reviewing H.R. 4776, “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act” or the “SPEED Act” which, if passed, will mark a major setback for our climate, health, and environmental goals as well as the people’s ability to to provide their input into federal decisions that impact their lives. This radical proposal guts the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an essential tool for environmental justice communities and will result in expedited fossil fuel infrastructure project rollout.
Please read the WE ACT’s one pager on the SPEED Act featuring our ‘NEPA Does Not Delay’ StoryMap which features permitting solutions that are supported by environmental justice communities.
“Environmental justice communities have lived in the shadow of polluting fossil fuel infrastructure for decades, and are ready for and are advancing real, just clean energy solutions. The SPEED Act would do the opposite, adding more dangerous fossil fuel projects to the backyards of communities who cannot continue to have their neighborhoods be used as sacrifice zones. Not only does this legislation gut core functions of National Environmental Policy Act, by cutting community input and science out of the review process, it plainly puts profit over public interest. Proponents of renewable energy should instead seek to advance permitting solutions that are supported by environmental justice communities and have already proven to improve the quality and pace of environmental reviews.”
– Louise Foster, Government Affairs Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice
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Western Environmental Law Center
House committee marks up SPEED Act that would renounce, not reform, environmental protections nationwide
Contacts:
Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, Western Environmental Law Center, 575-751-0351, eriksg@westernlaw.org and Marlyn Twitchell, Western Environmental Law Center, 541-485-2471, ext. 144, twitchell@westernlaw.org
Today, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources is set to vote on the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776). The Western Environmental Law Center urges members of the committee to vote no on this deceptively titled bill that was crafted solely to hamstring the nation’s bedrock environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The bill, accounting for last-minute proposed changes that make it far worse, adds sweeping new exemptions, restricts input from experts in other agencies, and puts private interests in the driver’s seat of environmental reviews, disregarding the federal government’s role to protect the public interest. Yesterday, 100+ groups signed a letter opposing the SPEED Act, alongside another letter from western organizations condemning the bill’s total capitulation to extractive industries.
The bill’s attack on NEPA is built on the myth that this bedrock environmental law slows project approval. In fact, new evidence-based research available upon request (see contacts section) concludes:
- Permitting delays are not caused by NEPA but, instead, by insufficient agency capacity, compliance requirements imposed by other laws, and external factors, such as delays attributable to permit applicants.
- The median completion time to complete a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) fell steeply from 3.6 years in 2019 to 2.2 years in 2024.
- Comprehensive EISs comprise an increasingly small fraction of agency environmental reviews. For example, between 2010 and 2021, the principal public lands management agencies–the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management–prepared far fewer EIS (85% and 74% less, respectively).
- Relative to utility-scale renewable energy projects constructed between 20210 and 2021, the vast majority–96.1% of wind projects and 96.8% of solar projects–employed streamlined environmental review procedures or avoided federal oversight entirely with very few projects–only 2.8% of wind projects and 0.7% of solar projects–challenged in federal court.
“Congress, with the SPEED Act, isn’t interested in true reform that revitalizes bedrock environmental laws in service of climate action and protection of the West’s public lands, wildlife and waters, and communities,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center. “They are, instead, recklessly careening off the road, drunk on bad facts and worse ideas and bullied by the fossil fuel and Big Tech industries’ money and influence.”
“Democrats must not—especially with the Trump administration in power for three more years—surrender America’s bedrock community and environmental protections to the fossil fuel and extractive industries, intent on looting public resources for profit without regard for the consequences to people, their communities, and our world,” said Marlyn Twitchell, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “Put simply, the SPEED Act would create new uncertainty and complication without improving decision making. In fact, we believe it would exacerbate the climate crisis and the fires, floods, droughts, hurricanes, and oppressive heat that have already killed so many Americans and so severely damaged our homes, public lands, and economy.”
Background:
Deregulation interests have peddled myths that NEPA is impeding construction of roads, housing, and other infrastructure, yet data shows the law leads to better decisions and ultimately better projects. Instead of taking a reasoned approach to identifying and addressing specific permitting needs, this SPEED Act would open the door to plundering our nation’s resources on public lands and dramatically cut back the public’s ability to be heard during project development or to seek redress for violations of law in court. Yesterday’s letter builds on a prior letter submitted to Congress this summer and signed by 27 organizations advising extreme caution on NEPA rollbacks such as this.
The SPEED Act sponsors bemoan NEPA’s “cumbersome and lengthy process,” which experts agree is rooted in chronic underfunding and under-staffing federal agencies—a problem created by Congress and the Trump White House. The sponsors complain that NEPA “is currently the most litigated environmental statute,” but the fact is less than a quarter of a percent of NEPA decisions end up in court annually.
Congress has passed numerous updates to NEPA that are meaningfully reducing permitting times, such as FAST-41, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and others. Before eviscerating our nation’s bedrock environmental law, we should allow these changes to play out. The prior administration also made substantial improvements to permitting that accelerated permitting timelines and respected, rather than undermined, the public interest abandoned by the current administration that should serve as a starting point for any congressional action.
Significantly, by defining the law as purely procedural, the bill guts NEPA’s central purpose to ensure that all federal agencies consider the environmental impacts of their actions. For 50 years the law has directed agencies to consider environmental consequences of proposed actions, engaging the public and communities in that process to ensure that “to the fullest extent possible,” they “look before they leap” and make well-informed decisions that encourage balance between human beings and the environment for present and future generations.
The bill also limits the types of projects subject to environmental review and eliminates an agency’s ability to consider the combined impacts of other projects, meaning environmental reviews will no longer adequately inform the public. In addition, it takes away standard judicial remedies by eliminating courts’ ability to set aside agency actions that violate NEPA, eliminating the incentive for agencies to comply with the law. Moreover, projects would be able to proceed while any violations are corrected—tantamount to “bulldoze first, consider impacts later.”
We can improve the speed of permitting, and we already are. We must, because the climate and biodiversity crises demand swift and powerful responses. But we must not erode community and environmental protections to achieve this goal.
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Sierra Club
Washington, DC – Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources is considering legislation proposed by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) called the “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act,” or the SPEED Act. This bill will undermine the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law, in order to rush through infrastructure projects without adequate review or safeguards.
Sierra Club and over 100 environmental and community groups sent a letter to Congress urging Members to oppose the legislation. The letter states:
“The urgency many feel to accelerate this buildout [of better transportation systems, more affordable housing, semiconductor fabrication facilities, transmission lines, renewable energy, and more] is well founded, but the SPEED Act takes exactly the wrong approach.
“We cannot simply deregulate our way to a smarter, more efficient permitting system. Stripping away safeguards does not create better processes or stronger projects. It only invites more mistakes, conflict, and harmful development. Real progress comes from resourcing agencies, improving coordination, and giving communities a voice in the process so projects can move forward quickly and durably. We urge the committee to focus on these real solutions rather than false shortcuts.”
In response, Sierra Club Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy Director Mahyar Sorour issued the following statement:
“Americans would greatly benefit from harnessing the country’s ample clean, renewable energy resources to lower costs and provide a more reliable and resilient grid. The SPEED Act would move us in the wrong direction, allowing developers to prioritize profit without consideration of community or environmental harm. We can move quickly to build out our clean energy future without undermining our clean air and water, healthy communities, and our collective prosperity. We urge Members of the Committee to vote no on this harmful legislation.”
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Earthjustice Action
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources will hold a markup of the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act (SPEED). The bill, introduced by Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) would dramatically weaken the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by limiting its scope and drastically limiting government accountability efforts when federal agencies fail to adequately consider the health, environmental, or economic impacts of decisions.
The legislation, which was the subject of a hearing in September, would create waivers of review and public input for broad classes of taxpayer funded projects, limit the use of new science and information in environmental reviews, and significantly limit the scope of impacts agencies consider. The legislation was significantly revised and made worse this week, when Chair Westerman released a new version that goes even further in limiting NEPA and goes as far as to essentially eliminate meaningful judicial remedies.
In anticipation of the markup, Earthjustice Action Senior Legislative Counsel Stephen Schima issued the following statement:
“While we agree in quickly building the transmission capacity, clean energy projects, and clean transportation infrastructure of the future needed to combat climate change, weakening bedrock environmental laws is not the solution. Dismantling existing protections—especially during a lawless presidential administration—will only result in more dirty air, contaminated water, and toxic health outcomes for everyone. Instead of staffing and funding cuts, we must fully empower federal agencies with the staff capacity and resources to implement the smart, efficient, and modern permitting system we all know is possible. We cannot rely on deregulation to get us there.”
Earlier this week, over 100 organizations sent a letter to House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman highlighting the dangers of the bill and urging the committee to reject it. The groups urged the committee to instead pass the Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration Act and the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act.
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Climate Justice Alliance
The SPEED Act: Another Dirty Deal for the People
Contact: kayla@unbendablemedia.com
Nov. 20, 2025 – In response to today’s markup of the SPEED Act by Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), Climate Justice Alliance Executive Director KD Chavez issued the following statement:
“Despite a month-long recess in the House, the SPEED Act shows no meaningful improvements that address frontline communities’ concerns. Instead, it continues to empower corporations over people by weakening cumulative impacts analysis, diminishing our ability to hold polluters accountable in court, and limiting tribal sovereignty.
In fact, the SPEED Act has added a provision to assume “No Action” alternatives have negative impacts on tribes, regardless of the action or tribe’s own perspective. What this really means is that even when permits or agency actions require corrections or legal challenges, potentially harmful projects could continue moving forward. Tribal and Indigenous communities know all too well the harms caused by mining, oil, and gas operations— and how a “No Action” outcome can often be life saving.
Today’s markup of the SPEED Act represents yet another dirty permitting deal that sacrifices public health and treaty rights for AI infrastructure and fossil fuel expansion. We urgently need to address solutions for climate, housing, transportation, and energy infrastructure. Repealing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), or stripping communities of legal safeguards is not the answer.
Frontline communities know what works: stronger public engagement tools, robust investments in permitting staff, and protections for our public lands and sacred sites. It’s long overdue that our representatives get serious and bring community-backed solutions to the center of policymaking.”
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League of Conservation Voters
The Speed Act is Permitting More Giveaways to Big Polluters
Washington, D.C. — Following today’s House Natural Resources Committee’s markup of the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) issued the following statement from Vice President of Federal Policy Matthew Davis:
“House Republicans have once again shown they are more interested in helping their fossil fuel billionaire buddies instead of working to lower utility costs for American families. The SPEED Act is another giveaway to Big Polluters that allows the Trump administration to continue its assault on clean energy while rigging the permitting process for harmful projects by cutting public input, gutting environmental protections, and blocking people’s day in court. Adequate staffing and resources delivered improvements in permitting timelines last year, and yet this bill does nothing to stop the indiscriminate firings of career civil servants or disregard for congressional direction on funding. We urge Congress to follow the lead of the members of Congress who opposed this bill in committee today and get serious about lowering utility costs by building clean, affordable energy that creates jobs and protects the health of our communities.”
Learn more about LCV’s opposition to the SPEED Act, the PERMIT Act, and more about the benefits of NEPA here.
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Public Citizen
Natural Resources Committee Set to Limit Key Protections for
Health, Environment, and Economy
Committee is set to mark up Chair Westerman’s proposal to gut NEPA,
undermining key permitting protections for federal projects
For Immediate Release: November 20, 2025
Contact: Patrick Davis, pdavis@citizen.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attempt to gut the National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA), a federal law requiring a detailed environmental assessment of major energy and construction projects, could advance past the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday. The bill, introduced by committee chair Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), would radically limit the scope of reviews by federal agencies, essentially eliminating government accountability when agencies fail to adequately consider the health, environmental, or economic impacts of their decisions.
In response, Meghan Pazik, senior policy advocate with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued the following statement:
“The proposal would fundamentally undermine key safeguards that protect frontline communities and local governments. The proposal codifies climate denial, and effectively silences the voices of those who will be directly impacted by any project sanctioned by the federal government.
“Fossil fuel and pipeline executives will be the overwhelming winners here as this legislation tips the scales in favor of approving projects without the necessary pause to allow for informed decision-making, putting private profits above the public interest. This rushed attempt by Congress to undermine key protections is irresponsible and the committee needs to press pause on this destructive bill.
“The Trump administration’s multiple, targeted attacks towards renewables, especially wind and solar, as well as cutoff of numerous Inflation Reduction Act programs suggest that this administration cannot be trusted.”
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WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan membership-based organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at weact.org and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram.
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