The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in reaction to the release of the Administration's final rule reforming the National Environmental Policy Act Permitting Process:

"This updated review process will make it easier to rebuild aging infrastructure, attract private investment, support efforts to reinvigorate our economy and continue to provide strict protections for the environment. Given the broad, bipartisan support for improving infrastructure, these common-sense reforms should be widely embraced and supported.

"Significantly, under the final rule, projects still undergo an environmental review with public input. The key difference is that those reviews will last months, instead of years and it will become slightly harder for special interests to delay the process with unmerited lawsuits. Notably, the substantive environmental laws and requirements that come into play on every construction project remain unchanged.

"At a time when both political parties understand the best way to support the economy is by investing in infrastructure, this new rule will help ensure that civil works funding and public-private partnerships help create needed jobs and deliver results, instead of being mired in red tape and squandered on endless legal squabbles."

For more information, visit www.agc.org.