National Environmental Protection Act slows progress

Hal Quinn, National Mining Association president and CEO, recently explained how the current regulatory climate is deterring domestic investment in minerals mining projects. A broken permitting process is the “highest hurdle” keeping the mining industry from starting new projects, creating new jobs and contributing even more revenue to federal and state governments.

The National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA, is one piece of this bureaucratic puzzle. This week, Johnathan DuHamel lays out in a Wry Heat post just how much this policy is affecting productivity.

“Although established with good intentions, the reality is that NEPA has turned into a byzantine bureaucratic maze that stifles productivity…Before a single shovel can hit the dirt it usually takes more than five years for the average Federal project to jump through all the normal environmental hoops. Some private projects take longer, for example the proposed Rosemont Copper project is seven years into the permitting process.”