ICYMI: Permitting Reform Would Unlock Faster Building, Stronger Growth and Lower Costs

To compete globally, grow the economy and lower costs, America needs to build faster. That’s the case Business Roundtable Senior Vice President for Policy Matt Sonnesyn makes in a new op-ed in the Washington Examiner. With Infrastructure Week underway and bipartisan infrastructure legislation unveiled in Congress, Sonnesyn details how permitting reform can accelerate project delivery, boost competitiveness and unlock long-term growth.

On the importance of infrastructure modernization:

• “Reliable infrastructure systems attract investment, innovation and jobs. Outdated and congested systems, or delays in building modern ones, push investment toward places with greater certainty, lower costs and faster production times.”
• “The United States has made progress in improving its infrastructure, but not enough. In its latest report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave U.S. infrastructure a C, up from a C minus. That is hardly the standard America needs to compete globally and expand economic opportunity at home.”

On what’s at stake:

• “A fiscally responsible 10-year infrastructure investment would add $8.2 trillion to GDP over 20 years, catalyze $2.4 trillion in private investment, raise wages and increase household disposable income. Every dollar invested would generate $3.82 in long-term economic growth.” 
• “Unfortunately, cumbersome federal permitting remains a significant roadblock. McKinsey estimates that each infrastructure dollar takes four to five years, on average, to move through federal permitting, leaving $1.1 trillion to $1.5 trillion in capital tied up in review and delaying as much as $2.4 trillion in GDP impact.”

On the cost of delays:

• “When America takes longer to approve comparable projects, it risks losing investment, industrial capacity and jobs. For families and businesses, those delays translate into higher costs when energy, transportation and other infrastructure systems cannot keep pace with demand.”

On the solution:

• “The answer is not weaker environmental protection. It is a permitting system that reaches decisions faster, with more predictability and greater durability. Bipartisan, comprehensive reform can eliminate redundant reviews, clarify lead-agency authority, enforce deadlines and expand categorical exclusions. It can also help prevent lawful approvals from being trapped in years of unnecessary uncertainty.”
• “This Infrastructure Week, policymakers have a clear choice: let America build faster or let delays and uncertainty hold us back. The correct answer is passing bipartisan permitting reform and surface transportation reauthorization legislation.”

Read the full op-ed here.