During an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) advocated for key Utah priorities to be included in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill. During his exchange with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Senator Curtis stressed the urgency of expanding the FrontRunner commuter rail system ahead of projected population growth in Utah and the 2034 Winter Olympics. He also raised concerns with burdensome federal regulations—noting how they raise project costs by 30%—and offered Utah as a lead agency model to allow for more efficient timelines. The Senator concluded by urging reinvestment of Highway Trust Fund dollars into Utah’s off-road trail systems.
A transcript of the exchange can be found below, and the video file can be downloaded here.
Senator Curtis: Secretary Duffy, so delighted to have you here in this capacity. I would associate myself with my colleagues who have complimented your fast and early start. Thank you for jumping right in and the work you do.
I’ll be careful because I don’t know your travel schedule, but hypothetically, if you found yourself in Utah in the short time, we would be very excited. And, we have a project we would love to show you, our FrontRunner. I think you’re familiar with that. We’ve got the Olympics coming also in Utah, a few years later than California. 80% of our population is serviced by this one rail, because of the geography of our state. And that 80% is expected to double, in that short time.
So, we’d love to have your support on that project and love to personally show you that as well, given the opportunity.
Secretary Duffy: Senator, I’d love to work with you. If I could just take a moment, I just want to extend my condolences to the state of Utah. You lost a lioness of a legislator and a friend of mine. And I know a friend to the great state of Utah, Mia Love, who served in our body in the House. She lost her battle with cancer. She has a wonderful family, and I know she loved Utah. And she served your state well. And our hearts are broken that you lost her.
Curtis: And on behalf of the state, thank you for your friendship with her, too. I know she thought very highly of you. Also want to bring up, Utah is unique in the sense of our regional planning MPOs. They actually like each other and get along. At the time I was serving as mayor, I was told we had the only statewide MPO project in the country where all the MPOs agreed across the entire state. And that synergy is just really important.
So, I just wanted to get your thoughts on MPOs, particularly in the reauthorization bill, how you see the role of MPOs.
Duffy: Listen, if it’s working well in Utah and as we go through the reauthorization, I’m sure you’ll be a champion. And I’ll take your lead and what we learn from the successes and how do we improve on the successes in this new bill?
Curtis: Excellent. Good. We’ve had a lot of conversation today about bureaucracy and regulations. And going back to my mayor days, whenever we built a project, we knew the rule of thumb was if we took $1 of federal money, it increased the cost of our project by 30%. And, keeping the same standards, right? All the same NEPA requirements.
And yet it was led by the state and not the federal government. So, one of my questions for you is what role can we transition [to that’s] traditionally done by the federal government to the states? Utah loves to be the lead on these projects, and I would love to get your thoughts on that and how we can deal with that.
Duffy: I think it’s a great point. We have been trying to designate more authority to states because they move projects faster than have happened when going through the federal government.
But to the larger point, I think there is a philosophy about, you know, what we have to do with, you know, the permits and the environmental reviews. And I do believe there’s an understanding, Democrat and Republican, that what’s been created today is not what was anticipated when bills were passed. And that’s why I think there’s bipartisan support to do reform in this space so we can move projects faster and more cheaply.
And again, we don’t have to sacrifice an environmental review, but I think it was Senator Sullivan who mentioned the litigation and the complication and the cost is real. And I’ll do my part. I know the Administration wants to do their part, but the Congress has to do their part as well to streamline this process.
Curtis: Given an opportunity, Utah would love to serve as the lead agency in environmental projects. And we’d love to talk to you about that and how that might help us streamline.
Duffy: I would love that.
Curtis: Good. Recreational trails program, I’m just going to read a stat here: Off-highway vehicles, users like 4-wheelers, ATVs, and off-road motorcycles contribute $281 million annually to the Highway Trust Fund and only receive $84 million back out of it. And we’d love to have that discussion with you, too.
That’s a big deal in Utah, returning some of those back to the trails programs.
Duffy: I would welcome that discussion. And again, I know it’s big in Utah, but in northern Wisconsin it’s also big deal. A lot of people come to ride through our beautiful forests.
Curtis: Sounds like something I need to do. I’ll get out to Wisconsin. Thank you.
Duffy: I recommend July or August.
Curtis: Thanks, Mr. Secretary. I yield my time.