Sens. Donnelly, Portman introduce legislation to permanently authorize expedited infrastructure permitting

U.S. Sens. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced Wednesday a bill that would permanently authorize a program that allows applicants to provide funding to potentially accelerate the permitting processes for some infrastructure projects.

“This legislation continues an available option for speeding up infrastructure permitting and provides the certainty that both private companies and the Army Corps of Engineers need to quickly review projects,” Donnelly said. “I’m proud to work with Senator Portman to keep red tape delays out of the way of these needed infrastructure projects.”

Current law allows public utilities, natural gas companies, and railroads to provide financing for permitting reviews in an effort to speed up the process. The authorization for that financing mechanism is scheduled to expire in 2024. Wednesday’s bill would permanently extend this authorization.

“There is bipartisan consensus that we must work together to rebuild our aging infrastructure,” Portman said. “I’m pleased to work with Sen. Donnelly to introduce this commonsense bill that will provide certainty to infrastructure project sponsors and help speed the implementation of these projects. By making these cost-sharing provisions permanent, we will encourage more project sponsors and the Army Corps of Engineers to use this option and make the permitting process run more efficiently.”