On Sept. 12, 鶹Ƶattended the unveiling of a final rule to repeal the 2015 definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rulemaking. 鶹Ƶhas criticized the federal overreach in the 2015 WOTUS rule, which treated many traditionally state waters as federal -- triggering federal approvals and permits for construction projects.
The Trump administration has finalized the first steps in 鶹Ƶsupported changes to streamline and modernize the implementation of the Endangered Species Act, which can be unpredictable and add delay and cost to the permitting and construction of infrastructure projects.
In mid-August, 鶹Ƶprepared written recommendations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the agency works to review and revise the decade-old Compensatory Mitigation Rule, which addresses mitigation requirements for Clean Water Act (CWA) permits. AGC’s recommendations focus on how the Corps could reduce mitigation uncertainty and inconsistency in the process, increase mitigation banking capacity, and help alleviate some of the delays on projects related to the CWA permit approvals. 鶹Ƶalso encourages the Corps to provide for alternative, programmatic, and multipurpose options for mitigation.
On August 23, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a notice seeking public comment on two “interim” policies: one to limit environmental impact statements to a maximum of 150 pages – with a recommendation that they “not exceed” 75 pages – and the other to coordinate those federal reviews under the “One Federal Decision” executive order with a goal of completing them within two years. Both directives are intended to speed up the environmental review process for transportation projects.
On AGC’s latest podcast episode, we speak with two industry experts on how construction firms can best prepare for and handle the aftermath of a crisis. We discuss the logistical implications of crisis preparedness as well the imperative to address the psychological and emotional repercussions of job site accidents. Additional resources and customizable tools – developed by our guest speakers Tyler Henson with J.E. Dunn Construction and Patricia Kagerer with Gallagher – are available on AGC’s website here.
Please provide feedback by the end of July 26, 2019
May Warrant Measures to Reduce Risk
鶹Ƶis pleased to announce the appointment of new members to serve on its Environmental Forum Steering Committee. Members of the steering committee have direct access to federal regulatory officials, influence over AGC’s environmental agenda, and a means to exchange valuable information with one another and industry peers.
Join us on July 23-25, 2019 in Seattle, Washington
The most recent Unified Agenda, released in late May, demonstrates that a robust agenda of regulatory reform continues as a theme of this Administration, yet it also shows little movement in the relevant policy 鶹Ƶhas been tracking.