The Trump administration is taking further steps to accelerate environmental reviews for infrastructure projects.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently announced plans to establish an interagency “Permitting Innovation Center” aimed at leveraging technology to modernize environmental reviews and streamline the permitting process for a broad range of infrastructure projects.
In an April 30 memorandum, CEQ notified heads of federal agencies of its intent to launch the Permitting Innovation Center to issue a Permitting Technology Action Plan. The plan will be used to guide agencies on modernizing the technology used for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews and other environmental permits and authorizations.
The CEQ-led center will consult with the National Energy Dominance Council—established in February to advise the president on strategies to achieve energy dominance—and relevant permitting agencies to develop and issue the action plan.
The initiative stems from President Donald Trump’s April 15 presidential memorandum on updating permitting technology.
“The Government does not properly leverage technology to effectively and efficiently evaluate environmental permits, causing significant delay to important infrastructure projects that impact our economic well-being,” Trump wrote in the memorandum. “This will now change.”
Katherine Scarlett, CEQ chief of staff, called the center “a major milestone on the road to permitting reform,” and said it demonstrates the administration’s commitment to using emerging technologies to bring “much-needed efficiency and transparency” to project reviews.
The Permitting Innovation Center will also work with the General Services Administration (GSA) to design and test prototype software systems for potential implementation. GSA is an independent agency of the government that helps provide services and resources to federal agencies.
Potential prototype tools include case management systems, application submission and tracking portals, automation of application and review processes, data exchange between agency systems and acceleration of complex reviews.
“We look forward to working across the agencies involved in this process, and leveraging our Presidential Innovation Fellowship program to ensure that each agency’s technology requirements are understood and met,” said Thomas Shedd, technology transformation services director at GSA.
Within 30 days of the memorandum’s release, CEQ will coordinate with relevant agencies through the Permitting Innovation Center to develop the Permitting Technology Action Plan, establish preliminary NEPA and permitting data standards, and issue the Permitting Technology Action Plan. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
