Fix the Broken Permitting Process, NAM Tells Congress
A continuous regulatory onslaught is hamstringing the permitting process for U.S. energy and infrastructure projects—and thus reducing manufacturing competitiveness and harming the U.S. economy, NAM Vice President of Energy & Resources Policy Brandon Farris told Congress on Tuesday.
What’s going on: By consolidating and cleaning up our infrastructure permitting regulations, the U.S. can advance multiple top policy priorities, Farris said at “The Next Fifty Years of the Clean Water Act: Examining the Law and Infrastructure Project Completion,” a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
- “Streamlining and modernizing our nation’s permitting laws and procedures will help us advance many of our nation’s shared priorities, improving the quality of life for all communities; modernizing our infrastructure; achieving energy security; ramping up critical mineral production; enhancing manufacturing competitiveness and creating manufacturing jobs in the U.S.,” Farris said. “These are goals that all Americans can support.”
Why the wait? Current wait times for the approval of critical manufacturing facilities, roads, bridges and more are needlessly lengthy, and they’re forcing business overseas, Farris continued.
- “Why should we settle for a permitting process that can take 10 or 15 years to approve essential projects?” he asked, adding that in Australia, a country with similar environmental protections, approvals take about two to three years.
- One manufacturer of critical raw materials for semiconductors recently told the NAM that “because of the regulatory uncertainty in obtaining a Clean Water Act section 402 permit in a timely manner . . . they are going to build a facility in the E.U.” instead of the U.S.
Steps to success: Manufacturers are urging legislators to take several actions to rectify the broken system. These are:
- Consolidate permitting processes—with enforceable deadlines—for the siting of new energy projects and their infrastructure;
- Speed up the approval process for transportation-infrastructure projects;
- Commit to developing our resources to strengthen U.S. supply chains for the critical minerals vital to national security;
- Ensure that the Biden administration follows congressional intent on all streamlining efforts, including the One Federal Decision, a Transportation Department approach that seeks to expedite certain federal environmental reviews.
The last word: “Permitting reform will help us achieve more—more manufacturing, more domestic energy production, more inputs and raw materials and more jobs,” Farris concluded. “And our country and the world will be better off if we and our allies do not depend on our authoritarian rivals for energy and other natural resources.”
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Manufacturers Stand Up for Equality
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Manufacturing businesses have long been proponents of equality in the workplace. As legislation to codify protections for LGBT individuals passes through the House of Representatives, the National Association of Manufacturers joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, and other members of the business community in advocating its passage, forging coalitions and providing congressional testimony.
Introduced with bipartisan support in the U.S. House and Senate in March, the Equality Act includes federal protections for individuals based on sexual orientation and gender identity under the existing framework of the Civil Rights Act, which already provides protection against discrimination on the basis of religion, national origin, race, color or sex. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that no person can face legal discrimination based on their gender or sexual orientation, setting a clear federal standard to enable individuals to succeed based on their abilities and qualifications to perform a job.
“Employers understand the importance of creating an environment in which the very best people can succeed based on merit,” Patrick Hedren, NAM vice president, labor, legal and regulatory policy, said. “At the same time, manufacturers know that discrimination in any form is antithetical to the values that we work to uphold every day: equality of opportunity, individual liberty, free enterprise and competitiveness.”
In March, more than 40 other industry associations rallied to support the Equality Act, providing an important boost for the groundbreaking legislation. In the weeks since, manufacturing representatives have testified before the House Education and Labor Committee and signed a coalition letter to the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services calling for the Act’s passage. As Congress considers the way forward, manufacturers have made clear that they intend to advocate forcefully on behalf of the legislation and uphold their commitment to workers of every gender identity and sexual orientation.
“The Equality Act creates a clear federal standard that matches the sentiments manufacturers already share: gender identity and sexual orientation have no impact on an employee’s abilities and discrimination is not welcome on the manufacturing floor,” Hedren said. “We look forward to working with Congress as this important legislation moves ahead.”
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NAM Welcomes DOL Repeal of Onerous “Persuader Rule”
Manufacturers Score Another Key Regulatory Win Under Trump Administration
Washington, D.C. – National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons released the following statement after the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded the 2016 Persuader Rule:
Manufacturers have fought for this victory for many years in the courts, in Congress and with two administrations, using the full weight of our policy, government relations and legal teams, said Timmons. The NAM’s Manufacturers’ Center for Legal Action was able to halt the rule in court in 2016.And in 2017, the Trump administration, as part of its broader regulatory relief agenda, thankfully began the process of unwinding the rule. This overreaching rule threatened to impose serious burdens on manufacturers and upend employee–employer communications. Now manufacturers are relieved that this threat to workplace communications is finally and officially off the books. Commonsense steps like this to rein in onerous regulations are a major reason why manufacturers are reporting record-high business optimism.
In 2016, the NAM testified on the harmful impacts of the rule before the House Small Business Committee and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
The Manufacturers’ Center for Legal Action (MCLA) is the leading voice of manufacturers in the courts and engages in a range of activities, including direct party litigation and operating a robust amicus program, as well as educating manufacturers about emerging legal trends. The MCLA is led by NAM Senior Vice President and General Counsel Linda Kelly and NAM Vice President of Litigation and Deputy General Counsel Peter Tolsdorf. More information on the MCLA can be found here.
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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12 million men and women, contributes $2.25 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, has the largest economic impact of any major sector and accounts for more than three-quarters of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the Manufacturers or to follow us on Shopfloor, Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.
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