As both a contractor and a former state legislator, I’ve had more than my fair share of experience with the unnecessarily slow, overly complicated federal permitting process. Our nation’s permitting process makes it all the more difficult to move vital infrastructure projects forward in a timely manner. For any project, the delays created by this broken process waste valuable time and money; however, for coastal Maine communities, the stakes are much higher.

Coastal Maine communities are on the frontline of the war to protect our communities from the impacts of a changing climate. Building out, strengthening, and improving the resiliency of coastal Maine infrastructure is critically important to the island communities that these projects help protect. To that end, making sure infrastructure projects are completed quickly, on time, and within budget is, in many coastal Maine communities, a matter of life and death.

Admittedly, earlier this year Congress made a little progress to reform environmental reviews that have grown especially burdensome. However, we still need more broad-based federal permitting reform that will help streamline and simplify the process, while increasing transparency, reducing duplication of efforts, and reducing onerous regulatory requirements.

Sen. Susan Collins has always had a knack for reaching across the aisle to pass common-sense policies that support Maine communities and help move Maine’s economy forward. Passing federal permitting reform should be seen in the same light. Hopefully, the senator can work with her colleagues in Congress to pass comprehensive permitting reform that enables us to continue improving the infrastructure of coastal Maine communities.

Jeff Pierce

Dresden