November 20, 2025 - San Juan, Puerto Rico — Governor Jenniffer González-Colón (R-Puerto Rico) welcomed the House Natural Resources Committee’s passage of H.R. 4776, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act.  Led by Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas), this bipartisan bill would amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to streamline the federal environmental review and permitting process and advance critical infrastructure projects across the United States.

“I commend Chairman Westerman and my former colleagues at the House Natural Resources Committee for marking up and approving the SPEED Act, bipartisan legislation to enact commonsense reforms to NEPA, cut red tape, and modernize federal permitting.  While well-intentioned, NEPA has unfortunately become a highly bureaucratic and burdensome process that increases costs and permitting timelines.  This, in turn, delays the delivery and construction of critical infrastructure projects, hurting economic development and denying communities access to essential services.  The SPEED Act would address this by providing certainty, shortening timelines, and preventing duplication by allowing federal agencies to utilize reviews conducted under other federal or state environmental laws that meet the requirements of NEPA—all while maintaining our nation’s strong environmental standards.  Such reforms at the federal level would complement efforts we are pursuing in Puerto Rico to streamline the local permitting process and advance the reconstruction of our infrastructure, including federally funded projects to rebuild our energy grid, roads and bridges, ports, and water and wastewater systems.  That is why I strongly support the bipartisan SPEED Act and hope it is considered on the House floor soon,” said Governor González-Colón.

Background on SPEED Act:

H.R. 4776, the SPEED Act, was introduced by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) and Congressman Jared Golden (D-Maine) on July 25, 2025.  The bill seeks to modernize NEPA to help streamline the federal permitting process and return the law to its intended purpose, striking an appropriate balance between environmental protections and economic development.  Among other provisions, the legislation:

·      Clarifies that NEPA is a purely procedural statute that does not mandate particular results but simply prescribes the necessary process.

·      Shortens permitting timelines, including setting a 60-day limit for federal agencies to notify project applicants if their application is complete and requiring agencies to issue a final decision within 30 days of completing an environmental document.

·      Prevents duplication by allowing federal agencies to utilize environmental reviews conducted under other federal environmental statutes or state statutes, so long as they meet the requirements of NEPA.

·      Ensures that agencies cannot use NEPA to change the purpose of a proposed project by mandating that the alternatives considered in the environmental document meet the purpose and need of the applicant.

·      Establishes judicial review limitations for NEPA claims, including a 150-day deadline for filing claims, a new standard of review, and the elimination of procedural moves that stop projects from moving forward.

Governor González-Colón’s Efforts to Streamline Permitting and Rebuild Puerto Rico’s Infrastructure:

Since taking office in January 2025, Governor González-Colón has prioritized reforms to Puerto Rico’s permitting process to expedite the reconstruction of the island’s critical infrastructure, attract private investment, promote job creation, and grow the local economy.  These efforts include:

·      Executive Order 2025-002 – On January 2, 2025, the Governor issued an executive order to establish a task force to review and streamline Puerto Rico’s permitting process.

·      Executive Order 2025-003 – On January 2, 2025, the Governor issued an executive order to establish a fast-track permitting process for federally funded projects, those designated as critical or strategic, and emergency projects. This includes waiving the need for duplicative local environmental reviews if a federal agency has already issued a determination.

·      Executive Order 2025-016 – On April 2, 2025, the Governor issued an executive order to expand the energy emergency declaration in Puerto Rico, align it with the policies of the National Energy Emergency declaration issued by President Trump, and waiving local permitting processes for projects to repair or rebuild the island’s power grid and energy infrastructure. Specifically, the executive order exempts the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), LUMA, GeneraPR, AES, and EcoEléctrica from any obligation to request or obtain local permits for work to repair, reconstruct, or replace equipment or components of Puerto Rico’s electric system.

·      Executive Orders 2025-009 and 2025-023 – Signed on February 4, 2025, and May 2, 2025, respectively, these executive orders established the Government of Puerto Rico’s Initiative for Deregulation and Administrative Efficiency (IDEA, for its Spanish acronym), to review and update governmental structures and systems, as well as to modernize and simplify processes, procedures, regulations, rules, and other administrative provisions.  IDEA mirrors proven regulatory reform strategies from the America First Agenda, emphasizing the repeal of unnecessary regulations and administrative obstacles to create immediate and long-term benefits such as quicker approvals, less paperwork, and cost savings.

These permitting reforms, among other actions pursued by Governor González-Colón and her administration, have delivered concrete results for Puerto Rico.  In just eleven months:

·      32,451 unique permits have been granted in 2025 so far and the backlog from 2024 has been eliminated.

·      563 out of 756 priority projects have been approved.

·      6,662 new permits have been granted for businesses that began operations this year.

·      The number of FEMA funded permanent work projects under construction—projects to rebuild critical infrastructure—has increased by 16 percent, from 4,334 projects under construction in December 2024 to 5,049 as of November 20, 2025.  The number of FEMA funded permanent work projects that have been completed has increased by 19 percent, from 4,261 completed projects in December 2024 to 5,083 completed as of November 20, 2025.

·      318 obsolete regulations across 17 state agencies are in the process of being repealed, representing almost 10,000 pages of regulatory text.

·      17 manufacturing companies have announced their intent to expand or establish operations on the island, committing to investing over $2.1 billion and creating over 4,000 new jobs.

·      Over 1,200 MW of baseload generation capacity has been restored and added to Puerto Rico’s electric system.

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