L. Preston Bryant Jr. column: Virginia's infrastructure review process works. Let it keep working.

Richmond Times-Dispatch

A growing population such as Virginia's, needs expanded education, medical, transportation, and energy infrastructure. This expansion must be done in a smart way, with processes that are reliable and efficient and which ensure projects are built in an environmentally responsible manner.

Read on as Preston Bryant, Jr. makes the case in his column of the importance of consistency in infrastructure review processes that have been proven to work.

From the article:

"Virginia is growing. In 60 years the population has doubled and it is estimated to exceed 10 million residents by 2040. Virginia will be one of the 10 largest states for the first time in more than a century.

A growing population needs expanded education, medical, transportation, and energy infrastructure. This expansion must be done in a smart way, with processes that are reliable and efficient and which ensure projects are built in an environmentally responsible manner.

But it also must be allowed to happen. A flat-out “no” to new infrastructure — as some would have it — is not the answer.

The good news: Virginia has gotten right this critical balance between infrastructure development and environmental protection. The credit goes in large part to the commonwealth’s environmental and other regulatory professionals. They follow well-tested regulation and processes, ask tough questions, and hold developers to high standards in permitting infrastructure projects. That is why I am very concerned about the efforts to undermine the professionals who seek to strike the appropriate balance with the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline projects.

I had the privilege of serving as Virginia’s secretary of natural resources in the Kaine administration. Our goal was to continue working in the Virginia tradition — supported by Republican and Democratic governors alike — of fair, consistent, reliable, and thorough environmental reviews for infrastructure and economic development projects.

During Governor Kaine’s tenure, Virginia was named “America’s Best Managed State” four years running, and the “Best State for Business.” These accolades occurred as we made equally significant progress in protecting and preserving our environment — permanent protection of hundreds of thousands of acres of land, improvements to local water quality and the Chesapeake Bay, and improvements to air quality.

The infrastructure oversight process in place has worked well. It has balanced economic progress and environmental protection. Business growth. Lands conserved. Cleaner water. Cleaner air.

While fostering growth and protecting the environment go hand-in-hand, the process also depends on broad stakeholder collaboration and a fair and thorough regulatory approach overseen by talented and committed regulators who share a concern for the needs of our families and businesses as well as our environment.

That is the approach, I believe, that has been taken with the proposed Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines. Together, these pipelines represent more than $8 billion in capital investment and will provide much-needed domestically produced natural gas.

Both pipelines have undergone a review process more comprehensive than any ever undertaken in Virginia. Following these comprehensive reviews, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the State Water Control Board followed well-established regulation and law in issuing permits for them. The projects also have been thoroughly analyzed for water quality impacts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under a process used for decades to approve similar infrastructure efforts in Virginia and nationally.

The SWCB, however, decided to change its process as it approached the final hour. After state and federal regulatory agencies took well more than a year to review every foot (literally) of these projects’ paths, the board layered on redundant review and yet another round of public comment. Some members would overturn the Corps’ approval of the projects.

As a former Cabinet secretary overseeing state environmental agencies, I am concerned about eleventh-hour change. What signal are we sending to anyone who wants to do business in Virginia? Follow the environmental rules to a T, and then we change the rules. Why do business here? Improvements in almost anything always can be made, but last-minute ad hoc rewrites of important rules and policies may well cause more harm than good.

We are making great environmental progress in Virginia, thanks to the work of all the women and men at the state and federal agencies responsible for making sure we can continue to offer a great quality of life for all our residents while preserving our environment. We should continue those efforts — with consistency and certainty."