Morning Glory: How to power the second Trump economic boom

Three federal agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACOE”), the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”), work together to build tens of thousands of new homes each year. It's suppressed. ). These three giant bureaucracies also protect the nation's “navigable waters” and species and subspecies listed as “threatened” or “endangered” by the USFWS.

When these three agencies and two statutes combine, the result is a giant tumbleweed of rules, regulations, and permitting requirements. The result of this massive red tape is a huge housing shortage and huge demands on extracting energy from the ground and building the Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) that will power the country for centuries to come. It has become an obstacle. And perhaps beyond that.

President Trump can spark a housing boom by ending 'endangered species' fraud

The new Trump team at the Departments of Defense, the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency will provide clear and precise guidance on the regulatory package needed to sever the Gordian knot that has been evolving over 50 years from these agencies and laws. It's certainly possible to get it out. However, it would still take at least one month to draft, two months to publish the proposed rule, and another three months to gather comments and complete the rulemaking. Lawsuits will begin from those who oppose the progress of the people. The new leadership should begin the process of issuing a “National Section 10(a) Permit” to take all listed species, upon payment of a hefty fee; should be combined with a national Section 404 permit if the species is on or near “waters of jurisdiction.” EPA also issued an order not to increase Section 10(a)/404 permits issued pursuant to the new rule eliminating bureaucracy. Congress can and should move faster.

The budget reconciliation process in early 2025 amended the ESA and CWA to provide that USACOE, EPA, and USFWS issue a national budget proposal within 60 days, regardless of any previous rules, regulations, or court decisions. It is a means of issuing a decree to Congress to do something. Section 10(a)/404 authorization. This permit would be available to private landowners for a fee to take “an endangered species or its critical habitat.” There is a fee of $10,000 per acre for affected occupied habitat and $1,000 per acre for unoccupied but designated “critical habitat” required by the development plan. If such a national “bureaucratic breakthrough” provision were included in the budget, it would result in a large influx of funds earmarked for habitat acquisition at the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, making it difficult to “take” species or subspecies. A trailer bill would be enacted to authorize that effect. Application to “waters of the United States” would fall within the scope of the settlement process. That same trailer law would eviscerate EPA's “elevate” authority for permits, as it always has, while also eviscerating the “national status” provisions of the ESA and CWA, as well as the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). can remove the applicability of The agency introduced it to turn a seemingly endless bureaucratic process into an actual “infinity and beyond” paper trail.

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If you've read this far, you've probably read five paragraphs into as close to a layman's language translation of “bureaucracy” as possible. The few lawyers who represent landowners in these matters — I'm retired, and there are very few really competent species and wetlands permit lawyers — are nodding along. It takes a day or two to draft free language for the budget reconciliation process. And the productivity rewards will be enormous. And almost immediately.

The layman must be asking, “But what will happen to the poor endangered species?” “Who keeps the water clean?” These are legitimate questions, and the answers are simple. The majority of “threatened or endangered species” designated by the USFWS are not actually “threatened or endangered.” ACOE regulates dry riverbeds that drip every few years, even though water is flowing. The U.S. Supreme Court has been repeatedly instructed not to do so. The new statute simply returns federal bureaucrats to the positions they had in 1970, before the first haphazard statute was drafted, and requires them to actually purchase and conserve the land needed for truly endangered species to thrive. It authorizes the collection of fees.

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There are effective ways to protect truly endangered species and protect actual rivers and wetlands physically adjacent to those rivers. However, the CWA and ESA do not do anything as they are currently interpreted and administered. Instead, it acts as a full employment law for bureaucrats, biologists, consultants, and lawyers.

In an age where AI can quickly create not just a map of the land that needs to be acquired to provide maximum biological diversity in return, the maze of federal permits that Jerry constructed with the existing absurdity requires a “retire and replace” moment. It should be in February and March of this year.

Both regulatory and legislative avenues need to be pursued, but the important truth is: Why can't this new Congress repeal or amend the dysfunctional laws that Congress passed more than 50 years ago? That means no. If we want to ensure that young people can afford starter homes and that renters are not trapped by the apartment shortages plaguing many zip codes, we must embrace “drill baby drill” while at the same time building, building, and building housing units. Must be built. . ”While both can provide significant environmental benefits, the security created by the administrative state comes at great cost.

The enormous power demands of new technologies can be met quickly, but only if Congress clears the way for SMR from a forest of unreasonable rules and regulations built over half a century of property rights abandonment and economic growth. It will be done. To the nameless, faceless tyrants of government agencies. The majority of Americans want a housing and energy boom, not full federal employment.

Hugh Hewitt is the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” broadcast weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network and simulcast on the Salem News Channel. . Hugh Wakes America up on more than 400 affiliates nationwide and on all streaming platforms where SNC is available. He is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel's News Roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier, weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio State and a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996, teaching constitutional law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show in 1990 from Los Angeles. Hewitt frequently appears on every major national news television network, hosts television programs on PBS and MSNBC, writes for every major American newspaper, has written 12 books, and hosts a Republican program. I served. Candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and the four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-2016 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and columns on the Constitution, national security, American politics, the Cleveland Browns and the Guardians. Over his 40 years on the air, Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republicans George W. Bush and President Donald Trump. This column previews the key stories that drive his radio/television show today.

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