Representative Reid Ribble (R-WI) offered an amendment to H.R. 4348, the Surface Transportation Extension Act, Part II, which would roll back our nation's bedrock environmental laws and stifle public participation in the environmental review process. The amendment would gut the National Environmental Policy Act, which - since being enacted with an overwhelming bipartisan majority in 1969 - has ensured that citizens provide input about federal decisions that affect their communities' social, economic, and environmental health. Specifically, the amendment would automatically approve any project whose environmental review is not completed within an arbitrary 270 day timeline; eliminate environmental reviews altogether for a broad range of highway projects as well as projects that cost less than $10 million or are less than 15% federally-funded; and prevent the consideration of smart growth, transit-friendly alternatives. On April 18, the House approved the Ribble amendment by a vote of 255-165 (House roll call vote 168). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. Regrettably, numerous highly problematic provisions in the Ribble amendment remained in the compromise transportation bill-H.R. 4348, MAP-21-which President Obama signed into law on July 6.