Trump vows fast permits for those investing $1 billion in US

Trump did not immediately detail what steps his administration would take to help investors secure permits to fast-track projects and any such effort is likely to face hurdles at the state and local levels.

Trump’s pledge, though, is in line with his vows to help bolster energy, infrastructure and other domestic investments in his second term and roll back federal regulations Republicans say have hampered economic growth.

The president-elect is nominating North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to head the Interior Department as well as a newly created National Energy Council and is tapping Chris Wright, who runs a Colorado-based oil and natural gas fracking services company, to lead the Energy Department.

Burgum is the head of an energy-rich state and and Wright is a vocal proponent of oil and gas development, highlighting the incoming administration’s focus on bolstering domestic energy production.

Permitting reform is a major focus for the oil and gas industries. The prospect of years of legal and regulatory delays has deterred the construction of new pipelines and has curbed the growth of natural gas production in the Appalachian region.

The same issue is now of primary concern for electricity generators and tech companies as the growth in artificial intelligence-related data capacity is forecast to rapidly increase US power demand over the next few years, requiring major investment in new generation and transmission infrastructure.

The issue has long been a priority for Trump, a former real estate developer who in his first term as president complained some of the nation’s most critical infrastructure projects were “tied up and bogged down by an outrageously slow and burdensome federal approval process.”

Long process

There’s growing concern across the energy sector about the long timelines to permit major energy and infrastructure projects — including solar arrays, oil development and power lines. Delays in getting power projects connected to the nation’s electric grids have blunted some of the benefits of Inflation Reduction Act subsidies for wind, solar and other emission-free power, prompting alarm from climate activists and Democrats in Washington.

Meanwhile, environmental approvals, including authorizations under the Clean Water Act, have also ensnared a variety of coal, oil and gas projects.

Lawmakers and presidents — including Trump — have tried to accelerate permitting before, with limited success. Under a 2015 transportation law, the US sought to expedite certain high-priority infrastructure projects, including those focused on electricity transmission, pipelines and renewable power production.

During his first term in the White House, Trump also advanced a plan meant to shrink project permitting timelines to just two years. He issued an executive order aimed at streamlining permitting for major infrastructure projects subject to scrutiny under the landmark National Environmental Policy Act. And his administration ultimately eased requirements for sweeping environmental reviews under the law. However, federal scrutiny can still stretch for years, even for projects that must also secure state and local authorizations.

It’s unlikely Trump could make sweeping changes to the federal permitting reform system using executive authority. There are limits to how much presidents can change administratively. Longstanding US law — particularly the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act — effectively sets a floor for some government scrutiny that can only be undone by Congress.

The statute requires federal agencies to take a hard look at the consequences of major federal actions affecting the environment, a category that can include highways benefiting from government spending as well as oil developments on federal lands.

Previous efforts to change federal permitting, including those during his first administration and other initiatives under that of President Joe Biden, have faltered without buy-in from Congress.

Congressional efforts that have included shot-clocks for federal agencies and expedited decision-making for oil and gas projects as well as transmission lines that could help transmit renewable power, have thus far failed.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats have been jockeying over the best approach. While there’s bipartisan consensus that current rules hold back all sorts of energy development, there’s little agreement on an approach for revamping them. Many environmental advocates slammed a permitting overhaul advanced in July by Senators John Barrasso, a Republican, and Joe Manchin, an independent, saying it made too many concessions to the oil and gas industries.

(By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Ari Natter and Josh Wingrove)