CAGTC Members,
Tomorrow, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) are set to publish a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) to revise the environmental review process for multimodal projects. This SNPRM builds upon a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that was issued in November 2015 in response to MAP-21 that proposed changes to the joint FHWA and FTA regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 23 CFR part 771. After the passage of the FAST Act in early December 2015, FHWA and FTA decided not to pursue a final rule because the November 2015 NPRM did not address certain FAST Act provisions.
Tomorrow’s SNPRM would update the 23 CFR part 771 environmental review process to correspond to changes made by the FAST Act. It would also allow the FRA to adopt 23 CFR part 771 and apply those same regulations to railroad projects. According to a statement by Secretary Chao, this would “harmonize” the three agencies’ environmental review process and “would ensure that multimodal projects have to follow only one process, rather than multiple agency processes.”
Comments on this proposal will be due 60 days after its publication in the federal register. Please find the SNPRM here.
Thank you!
Katie Cross
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1444 Eye St N.W.
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 828-9100
tradecorridors.org