Environmental paperwork as contractor subsidy

Major infrastructure environmental reviews can evolve into a de facto industry that extracts public funds via voluminous reports, expensive surveys, and change orders that benefit consulting firms and contractors tied to the project politically. Large page counts and tracking costs become recurring budget lines that inflate project cost and delay delivery while creating rent‑seeking incentives. — If environmental compliance can be monetized into a persistent revenue stream for well‑connected firms, then reforming review procedures becomes both an efficiency and anti‑corruption priority for infrastructure policy.