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Rep. Mike Collins is drafting a bipartisan update of multiyear highway policy programs with colleagues on the transportation committee. (simonkr/Getty Images)

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Legislation designed to streamline the federal permitting process for transportation projects and freight corridors was recently introduced in Congress.

The Full Responsibility and Expedited Enforcement (FREE) Act, would seek to expedite projects through a permit-by-rule system. The bill’s sponsors argue this system, if adopted, would enhance efficiency across the permitting process by allowing a project to be authorized quickly if certain regulations are met.

“Unfortunately, executive agencies are often excruciatingly slow at granting permits, delaying critical projects that support rapid growth — especially in states like Utah where the majority of the land is federally controlled. The time is now to reform and streamline the permitting processes,” Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), the bill’s lead sponsor in the chamber, said recently. She is a member of the Appropriations Committee on government funding.

“I’m excited to see that President [Donald] Trump, by executive order, has already directed his administration to begin that reformation — including through permit-by-rule,” she continued.

Our federal permitting processes are in dire need of reform.

President Trump endorsed permit by rule in the Unleashing American Energy EO. My FREE Act streamlines permitting and unleashes innovation that was bogged down by costly and time-consuming policies. — Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis)

Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Ted Budd of North Carolina are seeking support for the bill in the upper chamber. They both are members of the freight policy committee.

“Under four years of the Biden administration’s failed leadership, our permitting process is woefully backlogged and incredibly difficult to navigate,” Lummis said in January. “The federal permitting process has become years-long, which discourages investment and innovation all together. Implementing permit-by-rule processes will streamline approvals and help us address backlogs.”

“All too often, the federal permitting process is slow, expensive and confusing,” Budd added.

Specifically, the bill would require agencies to establish a permitting-by-rule application process after outlining certain criteria to Congress related to such a process. Per background information about the bill lawmakers provided, a permit-by-rule system “places the burden of proving applications meet standards on the agencies instead of the applicants.” Additionally, agencies would continue to be allowed to deny applicants following comprehensive reviews.

The legislation was referred to committees of jurisdiction. A version of the bill introduced during the previous session of Congress lacked requisite support for enactment.

This year the Republican-led Congress is taking aim at the federal permitting process. Transportation leaders signaled the potential for including provisions designed to streamline permitting in big picture authorizing legislation. This month, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) explained: “Both Republican and Democrat administrations over the last couple decades have recognized the need to address the environmental review process, and those administrations have taken efforts, through changes to regulations and guidance, to do so. Despite these efforts, federal environmental review and permitting challenges persist.”

“States, manufacturers, energy producers, cities, farmers, builders, homeowners, utilities and many others rely on a Clean Water Act permitting process that is easy to understand, easy to follow, and easy to implement. Unfortunately, too often these groups we refer to as regulated communities are left in the dark or actively undermined by increased regulation,” Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, said Feb. 11. He is drafting a bipartisan update of multiyear highway policy programs with colleagues on the transportation committee.

At the White House, the president has focused on permitting. Trump issued an executive order pursuing a consolidation of rules and regulations. This “,” issued Jan. 31, indicated that “for each new regulation issued, at least 10 prior regulations be identified for elimination.”

“This practice is to ensure that the cost of planned regulations is responsibly managed and controlled through a rigorous regulatory budgeting process,” according to the order.