|
 |
DOT 129-03
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Contact: Ben Langer, 202-366-5580
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta Opens Another
Round
Of Nominations for Streamlined Environmental Review of Projects
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta today invited governors to nominate additional transportation projects to replace projects in California, Nebraska, Vermont and on the Indiana-Kentucky border that have successfully completed the environmental review process. Airport directors and heads of metropolitan planning organizations also have been invited to nominate projects.
Nominated projects can be selected for accelerated environmental review. Nominations will be accepted through Dec. 15, 2003
A Sept. 18, 2002, executive order by President Bush on environmental stewardship and transportation infrastructure project reviews called for a Cabinet-level task force to ensure that, without sacrificing environmental standards, projects are not unnecessarily held up by inefficient review procedures. All activities flowing from this “streamlining” are required to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and all other environmental statutes.
“We need to complete environmentally sound transportation projects more quickly, and these nominations are the first step in achieving that goal,” Secretary Mineta said. “By working closely with governors and transportation leaders, we’ve shown that we can expedite the transportation project review process so that it can be completed more quickly, at less cost, and without damaging the environment.”
All transportation projects nominated are placed on DOT’s project register. From this, the Secretary of Transportation selects projects for a “priority list” that becomes the focus of a Cabinet-level task force.
The task force formed as a result of the President’s executive order is chaired by Secretary Mineta and includes the U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior and Defense, as well as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.
Projects added to the priority list generally are of national or regional importance, have a high level of support among state and local elected officials, and have been or are likely to be delayed by the federal agency review and coordination process.
Nine projects remain on the priority list from the previous rounds of nominations, and 66 projects previously nominated for this program remain on the project register if the officials who nominated them want them to stay.
Additional information about implementation of the President’s executive order and the nomination process is on the Internet at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/stewardshipeo.
###