TxDOT wants to keep approving its own federal environmental reviews

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is asking the federal government to let the state continue to approve its own environmental reviews – a delegated authority intended to fast-track highway projects. The public has until Monday night to weigh in on the arrangement that critics have long skewered as “the fox guarding the hen house.”

Since 2014, TxDOT has operated under the agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), allowing the state agency to assume responsibility for environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Those reviews analyze the impact of highway projects on everything from air and water to homes, businesses and historical sites.

TxDOT says the sweeping powers delegated to the state streamline efforts to avoid “substantial delays in the delivery of important transportation projects,” shaving months off the environmental review process.

“TxDOT is still subject to the same statutory and regulatory requirements that would apply without NEPA assignment, and our agency takes the responsibility for ensuring compliance with those requirements seriously,” TxDOT spokesperson Adam Hammons said in an email. “Over the past ten years, TxDOT has been subject to multiple audits and monitoring events by FHWA.”

One FHWA monitoring report issued this year found TxDOT was in violation of federal regulations related to the installation of traffic noise barriers. The report said the state was making changes to come into compliance.

Critics of the arrangement say the self-certification process known as “NEPA assignment” doesn’t result in the rigorous reviews intended under federal law, especially for large-scale projects like the expansion of I-35 through Austin.

“The federal government does not have the same vested interest in pushing through these projects that TxDOT does,” said Addie Walker with Reconnect Austin, a group that’s pushed for burying I-35 through Central Austin. “They have a really strong interest in pushing these projects through, and especially with NEPA assignment, no real incentive to slow down, listen to what the community and local and regional governments are saying.”

The Memorandum of Understanding between TxDOT and the FHWA is renewed every five years. During the last renewal in 2019, only three people commented.

This time, opponents have tried to rev up engagement by creating step-by-step guides for supporters. So far, more than 80 comments have been left, mostly from private individuals opposed to the NEPA assignment.

The public has until Monday, Dec. 9, at 10:59 p.m. CST to leave a comment in the Federal Register.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

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