President Bush issued an executive order on September 18 that directs federal agencies to speed environmental reviews for major transportation projects.

As part of this effort, the Department of Transportation is to designate “high priority” projects “that should receive expedited agency reviews,” and an interagency task force is to, among other things, “identify and promote policies that can effectively streamline the process required to provide approvals for transportation infrastructure projects, in compliance with applicable law, while maintaining safety, public health, and environmental protection.” There remains concern, however, that environmental considerations will be given short shrift in the interest of new roads. How is full consideration possible in the context of an “expedited review?”

In other news, at a hearing before a House subcommittee, the administration announced its intent to open a new rulemaking to reconsider protections for hundreds of thousands of miles of streams, tributaries and wetlands. The decision comes in response to a controversial 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court last year, which struck down protections for non-navigable ponds and wetlands that do not cross state lines. Given the administration’s track record, environmentalists worry the new rulemaking will be used to gut protections generally, as urged by home builders and developers, which have contributed generously to the president.