House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said that GOP leadership wants to advance permitting reform legislation this fall. Scalise said the current plan is to advance a standalone bill. Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Republicans on several other committees are working on the legislation, but it’s unclear if Democrats and Republicans will be able to work together on legislation that could get the bipartisan support necessary for it to become law. Scalise’s remarks come as Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Scott Peters (D-CA) recently introduced the bipartisan “ePermit Act” to digitize the federal government’s permitting process and reduce processing time for National Environmental Policy Act reviews.
