Aidan Mackenzie (@AidanRMackenzie) / X

Aidan Mackenzie

1,636 posts

Aidan Mackenzie

@AidanRMackenzie

Infrastructure Fellow with @IFP // I tweet about permitting reform, infrastructure & transit

Washington, D.C.

Joined September 2013

Pinned
Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Feb 3
🚨 Major new permitting reform bill just dropped! The FREEDOM Act tackles one of the biggest barriers to energy projects: permitting certainty. The problem is executive abuse of permitting. Officials can use permitting rules to kill projects from disfavored industries.
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Mar 20, 2023
Congestion pricing in NYC is the perfect case study of what’s wrong with NEPA. This is the 4,007-page environmental assessment that took 3 years to produce even though the state legislature approved congestion pricing in 2019. Thread (1/13)
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Dec 2, 2024
America can still build fast! …but only after disasters. In my piece for @tnajournal (now unpaywalled) I look at the Baltimore Bridge rebuild and ask why we can’t build fast all the time. Disaster rebuilds offer some lessons for a better infrastructure process.🧵(1/7)
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Sep 24, 2024
🚨🚨257-125 the NEPA reform for CHIPS bill passes the House! Already passed the Senate, now goes to the President to sign! Great bipartisan win! x.com/aidanrmackenzi…
Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Jul 11, 2023
New bipartisan bill to streamline NEPA permitting for CHIPS! And no wonder, right now all new semiconductor plants receiving CHIPS funding will have to produce one of these environmental reviews before construction can even begin. Another reason to prioritize NEPA reform! (1/5)
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Nov 12, 2024
This looks.... **HUGE** The DC Circuit has ruled that CEQ has no authority to issue binding regulations, theoretically axing decades of regs. NEPA is a simply 5 page law. CEQ regs + litigation are the teeth that turn a 5 page law into 1000 page reviews.
James Coleman
@EnergyLawProf
Nov 12, 2024
Huge decision holding that CEQ never had authority to issue the National Environmental Policy Act regulations that have been used for nearly half a century
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Oct 17, 2024
🚨🚨 This might be a huge win for geothermal permitting reform! 🚨🚨 The Bureau of Land Management is proposing a brand new categorical exclusion for geothermal exploration wells. This could be the real deal and something we @IFP have been pushing for! (🧵1/7):
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
May 9, 2023
Glad to see congestion pricing move forward! But just to be clear: the entire 3+ year delay (which lost the MTA ~$3 billion) was all just so the FHWA could write a 4,007 page report that says “congestion pricing has no significant impacts on the environment”. Thread (1/8)
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Sep 5, 2024
Major news for NEPA reform! 🚨🚨 Chair Westerman’s discussion draft is out! This is important because the Manchin-Barrasso permitting bill did not address NEPA and this draft may become the basis for House-led bipartisan NEPA reform. 🧵 on what’s in the bill: (1/18)
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Jul 7, 2023
I-95 collapsed on June 11th. By June 14th, funding was allocated and construction contracts were signed. On June 23rd, the bridge was reopened to traffic. Here’s how it happened and what we can learn for other infrastructure projects:! Thread (1/11)
00:00
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Jul 22, 2024
🚨 The long-awaited Manchin-Barrasso permitting reform bill is finally out! 🚨 The bipartisan bill strikes a deal on transmission, includes modest NEPA changes, and modernizes leasing for oil, gas, geothermal, and offshore oil and wind. Some live notes as I read the bill…
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Mar 20, 2023
Replying to @AidanRMackenzie
Congestion pricing is a plan to tax congestion. It's a NY state policy that affects NYC. It is not a federal project, it doesn’t impact federal lands, and the idea didn’t come from Congress. So why does NEPA even apply? (3/13)
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Aug 8, 2023
The NIMBYs are saying the quiet part out loud again: Permitting lawsuits aren't about proper procedure, they're a bad faith play to delay until developers run out of funding and leave.
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Mar 20, 2023
Replying to @AidanRMackenzie
NEPA was intended to inform the public and policymakers about harmful environmental effects. So why does NEPA get used to block environmentally beneficial policies that democratically elected legislatures approved? (6/13)
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Aidan Mackenzie
@AidanRMackenzie
Nov 13, 2024
It's no coincidence Spain has some of the cheapest transit costs in the world! x.com/s8mb/status/18…
Sam Bowman
@s8mb
Nov 13, 2024
Public consultation, Madrid-style.
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