Last year was perhaps one of the most bizarre, controversial and divisive years we’ve seen in recent memory in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump is nominating political appointees at a slower rate than previous presidents, but Senate confirmations are also slower. In 2017, the legislative process — never great — was less productive than usual. However, the noise and chaos in D.C. obscured some real work that occurred, and which may cause significant change in Western resource management in 2018 … depending on this year’s midterm elections.

One of the biggest success stories for Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the Trump administration has been regulatory reform. President Trump issued executive orders to set up government-wide regulatory review agency task forces. The administration seems intent on limited issuance of new rules by calling for the elimination of two existing regulations for each new one. Importantly, review processes for water and energy projects are being streamlined. The Department of the Interior has issued secretarial orders to shorten the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews and documents by setting page limits to NEPA reviews. The Obama Clean Water Rule — opposed by most agricultural interests for its perceived jurisdictional expansion — will be withdrawn and rewritten by the Trump administration, although it still is (and will be) tangled up in the courts.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Congress has used the Congressional Review Act to overturn 14 regulations issued near the end of former President Barack Obama’s administration. Congress has made encouraging process on streamlining Bureau of Reclamation water project permitting processes, with two bills moving through the House and one Senate companion bill. Congressional committees are working on reforming the Endangered Species Act, NEPA and the Clean Water Act. Multiple hearings on these matters have been held before congressional committees throughout 2017, and the introduction of bills that will be voted upon is likely this year. However, it may take another Congress to overhaul major environmental laws.

The president will finally unveil his long-awaited infrastructure proposal in early 2018, delivering on a longstanding promise to invest in America’s infrastructure. The plan is expected to emphasize a greater role for states and localities in funding their infrastructure needs, and to promote that through four pots of money supplied by the federal government.

Infrastructure is also popular on the Hill. Committees for the past year have been holding hearings and preparing legislation, including Western water bills. House and Senate committees are also preparing to assemble and move Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bills, which authorize and fund important Army Corps of Engineers water projects across the country.

Looking ahead
What’s in store for 2018? An omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2018, a national infrastructure package that could include WRDA or Western water policy components, and some version of an energy or natural resources package that could be folded into a larger infrastructure bill; these are likely bills that will be moving. Committees are already working on the farm bill.

Finally, while it’s possible that environmental reform bills will move, those will likely only make it through the House this year.

Keppen is executive director of the Family Farm Alliance.