Senator Curtis used a discussion during an Environmental and Public Works Committee hearing on Wednesday to advocate for giving states the lead on projects during an exchange with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. “We’ve had a lot of conversation today about bureaucracy and regulations. Going back to my mayor days, whenever we built a project, we knew the rule of thumb was if we took $1 of federal money, it increased the cost of our project by 30% [with] all the same NEPA requirements. And yet it was led by the state and not the federal government,” said Senator Curtis. “So, one of my questions for you is what role can we transition to that’s traditionally done by the federal government to the states? Utah loves to be the lead on these projects.” Duffy agreed that states move projects faster than the federal government and said there does not need to be a sacrifice of an environmental review but that Congress needs to do their part to streamline this process. Senator Curtis responded that given an opportunity, Utah would love to serve as the lead agency in environmental projects and has ideas on how to streamline.
