The Trump administration has placed a major emphasis on overhauling the environmental review and permitting process that significantly slow down the delivery of a variety of infrastructure, energy and other projects. April 15 the President issued a memorandum directing federal agencies to integrate technology into their review workflows in order to accelerate the processing time for infrastructure projects.
The order requires the Council on Environmental Quality, in consultation with the National Energy Dominance Council and other relevant permitting agencies, to issue a Permitting Technology Action Plan within 45 days of the memo’s issuance. After a further 90 days, officials will be required to use the new system.
Goals of the order include eliminating the use of the paper-based application and review process and reducing unnecessary project delays. The White House said its actions will digitize permit applications, expedite reviews, enhance interagency coordination on projects and give sponsors more transparency and predictability on project permitting schedules. The changes will affect a variety of infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, mines, factories and power plants.