Infrastructure Project Acceleration Act
The Infrastructure Project Acceleration Act would create a special category called “priority manufacturing projects” and set up a framework to fast-track their federal environmental review and approvals. A priority manufacturing project is a U.S. manufacturing facility project costing at least $1 billion and requiring one or more federal approvals listed in the bill. The bill would accelerate processing by waiving certain federal permits (notably Clean Water Act §404 and certain Endangered Species Act approvals), broaden the NEPA review scope to recognize state or tribal reviews as an equivalent, and restrict judicial review of these approvals (with the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit retaining limited jurisdiction over certain challenges). The stated purpose is to bolster the U.S. economy, manufacturing capacity, and national competitiveness, including defense-related sectors, while creating jobs and reducing reliance on foreign production. Critics may view these changes as reducing environmental protections and limiting avenues for legal challenge.
Key Points
- 1Definition and scope of priority manufacturing projects: Projects in the U.S. for constructing or expanding a manufacturing facility with a project cost of at least $1 billion and that require one or more specified federal approvals.
- 2Exclusions from certain federal permits: A priority manufacturing project would not be required to obtain permits under the Clean Water Act §404 or certain Endangered Species Act provisions (§7, §9, §10), effectively easing or bypassing some federal environmental permitting.
- 3NEPA scope and state/tribal equivalence: Amends NEPA to allow lead agencies to treat a State or Tribal environmental review that is judged to be functionally equivalent to NEPA as satisfying the federal review requirement. A “functional equivalence” finding can be satisfied if the state/tribal process considered relevant environmental information and provided public notice about decisions.
- 4Public participation in equivalence reviews: The functional equivalence determination must reflect that relevant environmental information was considered and the public was informed during decision-making.
- 5Judicial review limitations: Generally, no court would have jurisdiction to review actions approving priority manufacturing projects under this section. The DC Circuit would have exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to the validity of this section or claims that an action is beyond the authority granted by the act.
- 6Legislative findings and policy goals: The bill asserts that expedited environmental reviews will strengthen the economy, improve U.S. industrial capacity and technological competitiveness, reduce dependence on foreign manufacturing, and support critical sectors (defense, healthcare, communications) while creating jobs.