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…