WASHINGTON – Ohio native Katherine Scarlett on Wednesday pledged to speed up and improve environmental reviews for major projects without cutting corners if the U.S. Senate confirms her to chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

The Grandview Heights native has been nominated to head CEQ, which serves as the White House’s environmental policy team. CEQ ensures the government is protecting the environment as it moves forward with big national projects like highways, power plants, and clean energy efforts.

It also coordinates between federal agencies to ensure they follow environmental laws, especially the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires the government to look at the environmental impact of major projects before they happen. It also helps guide how agencies handle environmental reviews, making sure the process is thorough but not bogged down by red tape.

“I will work hard every day to leverage this nation’s environmental policies and technologies to grow the American economy while ensuring that every American has clean air, clean water, and clean land,” Scarlett told her Senate Environment and Public Works Committee confirmation hearing.

Before becoming CEQ chief-of-staff in January, Scarlett worked at CEQ during Donald Trump’s first presidential administration and then was an aide to U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.

Capito, who chairs the committee that will oversee Scarlett’s confirmation, called her “very well qualified” for the chairmanship. Capito said she’s working with the committee’s top Democrat, Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse, on bipartisan legislation to reform the nation’s environmental review and permitting processes. Whitehouse did not express any objections to Scarlett’s confirmation at the hearing.

“I’m hopeful we can get a bill over the President’s desk for his signature, and when we do, I’m confident that it will be implemented faithfully under Katherine’s leadership at CEQ,” said Capito.

U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, a Columbus-area Republican, sought Scarlett’s views on the E-Check vehicle emissions testing program in the Cleveland area.

He said the decades-old program meant to improve air quality now costs around $14 million yearly yet doesn’t seem to be helping the Cleveland area meet stricter emissions standards despite today’s cleaner auto emissions.

“Technology changes, but yet the rules and regulations remain the same, even if they don’t make sense,” said Husted, asking Scarlett to work with Ohio to find a more effective approach.

Scarlett told him the matter would not necessarily be under CEQ’s jurisdiction, but said her agency is trying to apply improved technology, resources and knowledge to its administration of NEPA, and update some of its more archaic procedures that date back to the 1980s.

“We’re really trying to work in within the NEPA process to consolidate the guidance, have a clear directive that’s really disciplined and follows the statute,” Scarlett told him. “That’s something the agencies across this administration are going to be looking at when it comes to regulatory reform, and I’m absolutely happy to be a part of any conversation that I can be helpful with to you and the state of Ohio.”