OPINION:
Not one of the projects supposedly slated for completion in Biden’s infrastructure package will happen for 8 to 10 years, at best. The average highway or bridge project takes 12 years to get through the approval system and most of the delay is due to activists taking every project to court.
There is no impact at all on the logistics system because it is too far downstream. You want an interesting, hard fact to put out there for the public? Dig into the funding for the infrastructure projects currently under construction. You will be shocked, just like my favorite character from “Casablanca,” to discover that 80% of the projects associated with Obama’s “shovel-ready” efforts are being done now.
The Democrats know this and don’t care. They could have put a provision into the bill to give “Mayor Pete” the authority to wave environmental review or consolidate and minimize it. But they didn’t, perhaps because Buttigieg is too busy with diapers these days. They simply don’t care — as long as the bill got passed.
We should be asking Pelosi et al why they did not limit delays and activist challenges.
JAMES BARENDS
Wayne, Pa.
