Oklahoma Transportation Official Urges Congress to Reform Permitting Process
WASHINGTON — Transportation authorizers need to consider ways to reform the planning and approval process for highway infrastructure projects, Mike Patterson, executive director of Oklahoma’s Department of Transportation, told a House subcommittee April 5.
Patterson suggested simplifying the application process and allowing states to take on the responsibilities of engineering and environmental reviews.
“There exists still further opportunity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of transportation programs and project delivery while remaining responsible stewards of taxpayer resources and both human and natural environment,” Patterson said in prepared remarks. He was testifying on behalf of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
The White House and many Republicans are advocating for streamlining environmental permitting and reducing regulations for big-ticket construction projects.
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who met Republicans ahead of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee hearing, indicated the administration’s long-term infrastructure funding proposal would have in it provisions that would overhaul permitting regulations. The plan is expected to be unveiled in May, she said.
House Democrats pushed back on the emphasis to deregulate and focused instead on a need for additional federal spending for infrastructure projects.
“More and more ‘streamlining’ is not the answer to our infrastructure crisis nor the principal roadblock,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) wrote in a letter to Chao. “We cannot streamline our way out of our funding shortfall.”
The top Democrats on the transportation committee and highways subcommittee, respectively, noted regulations impact a portion of construction projects.
