On Monday, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and his Senate colleagues applauded the passage of legislation designed to accelerate the U.S. microchip manufacturing permitting process in the House of Representatives.
The Building Chips in America Act would streamline federal permitting process for microchip manufacturing projects while maintaining clean air and water protections, official said. The bill has previously passed the Senate twice – first as part of the Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act and again as standalone legislation.
“This is a major step forward for our economy and national security,” Kelly said. “By preventing unnecessary delays in the construction of microchip manufacturing facilities, this bill will help maximize our efforts to bring this industry back to America, creating thousands of good-paying jobs and strengthening our supply chains. I’m grateful to my colleagues in both chambers for their bipartisan work to get this done, and I look forward to seeing it signed into law.”
The bill would establish that the U.S. Department of Commerce is the lead federal agency to carry out environmental reviews for any CHIPS Act project deemed to be a major federal action and would clarify that certain CHIPS Act projects are not major federal actions and not subject to environmental review. Additionally, the bill would grant the Commerce Secretary with greater tools to carry out federal reviews, and limit the timeline for court challenges.
The bipartisan legislation is supported by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Todd Young (R-IN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
“The CHIPS and Science Act included manufacturing incentives vital to increasing domestic chip production here in the U.S. and protecting our national security interests. As implementation continues, unnecessary regulatory burdens are threatening to slow down these critical investments in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and pause construction that has already begun,” Young said. “Our bill will cut red tape and solidify our nation’s ability to successfully onshore chip production as quickly as possible. I’m pleased to see this important piece of legislation pass Congress and urge the President to sign it into law.”
The bill now passes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.