President Donald Trump recently issued a presidential memorandum ordering executive agencies to adopt a series of practices designed to expedite environmental permitting processes.
The memorandum commands the federal government to, among other things, update its permitting technology to increase efficiency without decreasing review quality.
Companies working on projects requiring permits have previously complained of the US government’s lethargic and outdated permitting process.
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The American Clean Power Association (ACPA) recently claimed that the average timeline for projects to obtain environmental permits ranges from 5 to 7 years.
“Such long timelines for clean energy projects – largely due to procedural inefficiencies in implementation rather than problems with the law itself – serve as a roadblock to unlocking the full potential of U.S. clean energy currently being developed,” reads an ACPA statement.
President Trump’s memorandum seeks to eliminate such procedural inefficiencies by digitizing applications, expediting reviews, enhancing interagency coordination, and expanding transparency and predictability on project permitting schedules.
The memorandum creates a Permitting Technology Action Plan that will set minimum technology requirements for agencies, create a roadmap for coordinating interagency permitting collaboration, and provide oversight for the implementation of the plan.
Moreover, the memorandum creates the Permitting Innovation Center to create and test software tools to expedite permitting processes.
Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum commended Trump’s memorandum.
We need to drill more, map more, mine more, and build more — all while innovating faster than our global competitors,” said Burgum.
The plan and the center are set to be created 45 and 90 days from the memorandum’s publication, respectively.
“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,” continued Burgum.
