10 Dec 2024 5:42 pm
I have no problem with government agencies expediting reviews (and hopefully approval) of huge projects. Before I retired, my employer submitted an application for an $85 million expansion that would double their capacity to manufacture their second biggest selling product...application submitted in July. When we submitted the application, we had to pay an extra $70,000 for an expedited review of the application...that fee meant it would be reviewed in June of 2025. Keep in mind, that just meant they would make the initial review so they could submit questions within their 90 day window. When they got the responses, they would then schedule a hearing with 180 days. After the hearing, they had 90 days to make a ruling. This was for an amendment to an existing permit, not a new permit...and an expedited process would take about 23 months. That is a problem.
