ODESSA, Texas — There is plenty of road construction happening in the Permian Basin, and more is in the works moving forward. Those projects take time, but the process to even start them increases the timeline. However, efforts have been made to change that.
District 11 Congressman August Pfluger has led efforts that will not only speed up the process, but also lower costs. The National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA, helps manage the best places for roads and highways, but their requirements have also created unnecessary delays.
As West Texans drive around, 'road work ahead' is a common sign to see. But to get to that point, multiple agencies must consider several factors.
“To determine if there’s an archaeological or historical impact, if there’s an environmental impact to land, water, species and animals, if it’s to a population, social justice, all those sorts of things that go into it, so there’s a lot of things that you have to do," said James Beauchamp, President of the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance.
Beauchamp says those things typically take two or more years when they don’t need to. That’s what is being changed.
“It’s not that you’re doing away with the NEPA process, it’s just that you’re requiring those agencies to make a decision," said Beauchamp. "And frankly, I don’t think the decisions are going to be any different than they are today, but instead of waiting an additional year for that, being able to get that same decision sooner just makes sense.”
The expectation is that quicker deadlines will benefit the Permian Basin as a whole.
"Reforming the NEPA process will encourage investment in additional pipeline capacity across the country, development of new energy projects, and allow companies to reinvest money into new technologies right here in the Permian Basin," said Congressman Pfluger.
With those expectations, trying to keep up the road work is critical.
“One of the problems that we have is as development moves around the [Permian] Basin, it’s really hard to keep up," said Beauchamp. "It’s hard to keep up if you had the money and you had the project and could just go ahead and immediately move on to letting that project, knowing that a lot of these things are going to stretch out a couple years. So, taking a couple years off by expediting that NEPA process is critical.”
Congressman Pfluger noted that the Fiscal Responsibility Act will require time limits of one year for environmental assessments and two years for environmental impact statements. He hopes these reform efforts will result in more jobs, lower energy costs and continued investment in the Permian Basin.