Today, President Trump announced a significant shift toward utilizing modern technology to enhance the efficiency of environmental reviews and permit evaluations in the United States. The initiative centers on reforming the permitting process to eliminate delays, streamline project timelines, and support economic growth.
A Presidential Memorandum mandates the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), with assistance from the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) and other pertinent agencies, to develop a strategy for updating the technology involved in environmental reviews and permits for infrastructure projects. This strategy aims to digitize permit applications, speed up reviews, improve interagency collaboration, and provide project sponsors with greater transparency regarding the permitting process. Additionally, agencies will have an improved platform for sharing information with state and tribal authorities.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality emphasized, "By leveraging 21st-century technologies, the U.S. can improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and speed of the Federal environmental review and permitting process — and remove the layers of bureaucracy that are stopping growth while improving the quality of the review process."
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum expressed the necessity of modernizing the system, stating, “The Permitting Technology Action Plan will channel our greatest asset, American innovation and technology, to overhaul our current permitting process and power our nation faster, better, cleaner, and more reliably than ever before."
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright highlighted the federal commitment to energy growth, saying, “With President Trump’s leadership, this administration is taking action to fix a broken system that’s slowing down critical energy projects across the country."
Both Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy echoed these sentiments, underscoring the need to alleviate the complexities of the permitting process to foster American innovation and expedite infrastructure projects. Duffy noted, "Ridiculous red tape and outdated regulations add cost and delays to projects. It has to stop."
Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, endorsed the effort to reform permitting processes, stating it would "bolster American innovation and grow our economy."
The directive signifies a concerted effort by the Trump administration to support infrastructure growth through technological advancements in the permitting process.
