WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today introduced the Revising and Enhancing Project Authorizations Impacted by Review (REPAIR) Act to protect the permitting process for U.S. energy, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure projects from frivolous lawsuits designed to stall judicial reviews of approved projects. Cassidy was joined in introducing the bill by U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-ID) and Mike Crapo (R-ID).
“Green activist groups have a pattern. They manipulate the legal system to keep infrastructure and energy projects in legal purgatory,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Let’s end this and get the project moving again. It’s the only way to unleash American energy!”
“Critical domestic energy, natural resource, and manufacturing projects have been blocked by activist litigation for far too long, forcing the U.S. to rely on countries like China for resources available in our own backyard,” said Senator Risch. “The REPAIR Act would close judicial loopholes and eliminate years of unnecessary litigation that have hindered our ability to harness our own natural resources.”
“Off-shore energy projects face stiff headwinds in America,” said Senator Crapo. “As we move toward greater American energy independence, the REPAIR Act would reduce the threat of frivolous lawsuits during the permitting and review process for new projects that can tie up proposals for years. Advancing this bill is an important step in furthering President Trump’s domestic energy agenda.”
The REPAIR Act makes many vital changes to the judicial review process of an approved permit. The judicial process created by the REPAIR Act ensures all laws related to permitting have the same review process, scope of adjudication, rules for standing, and statute of limitations. The bill removes the ability to file a suit based on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), instead focusing lawsuits on the statute for which the permit was issued. In the case of a judicial remand or other court action, the REPAIR Act establishes a mediation process that allows the project developer and the permit-issuing agency to directly address the challenge in order to allow the project to move forward. Additionally, the bill increases transparency in ongoing court challenges to permits to highlight the unnecessary delays caused by the judicial process.
The legislation is supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute, ClearPath, the National Mining Association, and Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES).
Click here for a one-pager on the REPAIR Act.
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