President Trump Unleashes Permitting Technology for the 21st Century

Excerpt:  “Today, President Trump took action to ensure the United States is leveraging modern technology to effectively and efficiently conduct environmental reviews and evaluate permits. Permitting reform is a top priority for the Trump Administration and this action will accelerate the process, improve the transparency and predictability of project timelines, and eliminate unnecessary delays holding back the growth of the American economy. The Presidential Memorandum signed today calls on the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in consultation with the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) and relevant permitting agencies, to issue a plan for modernizing the technology used for Federal environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects. This plan will guide agencies as they use technology to digitize permit applications, expedite reviews, enhance interagency coordination on projects, and given sponsors more transparency and predictability on project permitting schedules. This will also help agencies share information with state and tribal officials to make those permitting processes easier for project sponsors.”