WASHINGTON – Today Congressman David G. Valadao’s bill H.R. 6011, the Right of Way Application and Transparency Accountability Act, passed the House with widespread bipartisan support. Congressman Valadao’s legislation addresses a significant bottleneck in the permitting process by requiring that federal agencies notify right-of-way applicants if their application is complete within 90 days.

“We cannot continue to let permitting red tape kill critical infrastructure projects,” said Congressman Valadao. “This commonsense, bipartisan bill will allow us to better utilize our domestic energy resources, expand rural broadband, build roads, and ultimately create more jobs here at home. I’m thankful to Chairman Westerman for his help moving this bill through the House, and I look forward to working together to get this bill signed into law.”

“Government bureaucracy and delays have had myriad adverse effects on our nation’s energy projects for decades. H.R. 6011 will responsibly and reasonably provide a timeline for agencies to simply notify project applicants whether their applications are complete or not. This transparency will alleviate bottlenecks for all of the above energy projects, allowing them to move forward and improve America’s energy security. Representative Valadao has worked with Congress to develop bipartisan energy solutions that solve some of the most complex challenges facing domestic energy projects. I look forward to working with him to get this bill signed into law,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman.

Read the full text of the bill here.

Congressman Valadao spoke in support of his legislation during debate on the House Floor. Watch his full remarks here. 

Remarks as prepared:

M. Speaker,

I rise today to urge my colleagues to support my bill, the Right-of-Way Application and Transparency Accountability Act.

This bill makes a commonsense reform to our broken federal permitting process.

Right now, there is no required timeline for federal agencies to respond to right-of-way applications for projects on federal lands.

That means hundreds of these applications are just stuck in permitting purgatory instead of moving forward. 

The time people spend waiting for answers on these applications is a significant and preventable bottleneck.

This wasted time is hindering domestic energy production, rural development, new roads, and so much more. 

My bill would fix this by requiring federal agencies to notify right-of-way applicants if their application is complete within 90 days of receiving it.

Notifying applicants about the status of their right-of-way application in a timely manner is a basic step that will make the permitting process more efficient and transparent.

We cannot continue to let permitting red tape kill these infrastructure projects.

We must reform the federal permitting process so we can better utilize our domestic energy resources, expand rural broadband, build roads, and ultimately create more jobs here at home.