Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century

Executive Orders

TLDR

This executive order directs federal agencies to maximize technology use in environmental reviews, establishing a Permitting Technology Action Plan within 45 days and a Permitting Innovation Center within 15 days. It aims to eliminate paper processes, accelerate reviews, shorten documents, reduce duplication, and improve coordination across agencies, with a focus on expediting infrastructure project approvals while maintaining environmental standards.

This executive order directs federal agencies to maximize use of technology in environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects. It establishes a Permitting Technology Action Plan to be developed within 45 days by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in consultation with the National Energy Dominance Council and relevant agencies. The order also creates a Permitting Innovation Center within 15 days to design and test prototype tools for NEPA reviews and other environmental permits.

Key components:

  1. Technology Modernization Goals:

    • Eliminate paper-based processes
    • Accelerate processing time
    • Reduce document length while increasing accessibility
    • Minimize duplicative data submissions
    • Improve interagency coordination
    • Enhance transparency in permitting schedules
    • Support legal departments in defending permit decisions

  2. Implementation Mechanisms:

    • Permitting Technology Action Plan (within 45 days)
    • Interagency Permitting Innovation Center (within 15 days)
    • Data/technology standards for NEPA reviews
    • Minimum functional requirements for agency software systems
    • Unified interagency permitting data system

The stated purpose of the initiative is to accelerate the approval process for infrastructure projects while maintaining the quality of reviews. Notably, it introduces the formation of a “National Energy Dominance Council,” which indicates a strategic emphasis on promoting and prioritizing energy development projects. Among its potential benefits are a reduction in bureaucratic delays and enhanced coordination across federal agencies, which could streamline project timelines and improve interagency efficiency.

However, several concerns have been raised. The initiative appears to place a strong emphasis on speed, potentially at the expense of thorough environmental reviews. It lacks explicit safeguards to protect environmental standards, raising the risk of oversight being weakened through the use of automated, technology-driven review mechanisms. Additionally, the mandated 45-day timeline for developing a comprehensive technology modernization plan is considered highly ambitious and may compromise the quality and depth of the plan. Furthermore, the proposal does not outline how such modernization efforts will be funded, leaving a critical gap in the practical feasibility of its implementation.

This executive order represents a significant shift toward technology-centric environmental review processes with an emphasis on expediting infrastructure project approvals.

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. This will now change. My Administration will apply modern technologies to longstanding problems to deliver outstanding results at 21st-century speeds. To that end, and pursuant to the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following:

Section 1. Policy and Purpose. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall make maximum use of technology in environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects of all kinds, such as roads, bridges, mines, factories, power plants, and others, to:

(a) eliminate the use of paper-based application and review processes;

(b) accelerate the processing time for projects, with little to no impact on quality of review;

© reduce the length and increase the accessibility of documents related to permit applications;

(d) reduce duplicative data submissions;

(e) increase the interagency use of existing analyses including analyses from other agencies relevant to different permit applications for the same projects;

(f) eliminate friction in coordination between agencies in the environmental review and permitting processes;

(g) improve the transparency and predictability of project permitting schedules;

(h) ensure agency legal departments have the support, funding, and technology to provide the most expeditious and best defense of challenged environmental documents and permit decisions;

(i) streamline the overall environmental review and permitting process at the Federal level, with the goal of speeding data gathering and decision-making that can improve timeliness for State, local and tribal decision-making as well; and

(j) maintain a readily available source of information that may be relevant to judicial review of any permits.

Sec. 2.

Permitting Technology Modernization.

(a) Within 45 days of the date of this memorandum, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in consultation with the National Energy Dominance Council and relevant permitting agencies, shall issue a Permitting Technology Action Plan for modernizing the technology used for Federal permitting and environmental review processes for infrastructure projects.

(b) The Permitting Technology Action Plan shall include:

(i) an initial data and technology standard for permit applications and reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., and other applicable permits and authorizations;

(ii) minimum functional requirements for agency NEPA and permitting-related software systems, including systems related to case management, automation to expedite low-level reviews, data-driven document structure, and data collection and reporting to minimize timeline uncertainty for environmental reviews;

(iii) a roadmap for creating a unified interagency permitting and environmental review data system consisting of interconnected agency systems and shared services that includes iterative development of new platforms, tools, and capabilities, key investments and decision points for consolidating digital infrastructure, and resulting outcomes for environmental review and permitting;

(iv) an interagency governance structure for oversight of implementation of the Permitting Technology Action Plan; and

(v) a timeline for agencies to accomplish the activities outlined in the Permitting Technology Action Plan.

© Within 90 days of the date of the issuance of CEQ’s Permitting Technology Action Plan, the officials listed in 42 U.S.C. 4370m–1(b)(2)(B)(i)-(xii) and others as determined by the Chairman of CEQ shall adopt and begin implementing the CEQ data and technology standard and minimum functional requirements referred in sections 2(b)(i) and 2(b)(ii) of this memorandum in new and existing agency environmental review and permitting systems to facilitate efficient environmental reviews.

(d) In carrying out the requirements of this section, the Chairman of CEQ shall coordinate with relevant agency Chief Environmental Review and Permitting Officers and Chief Information Officers to provide oversight on the implementation of the data and technology standard.

Sec. 3.

Permitting Innovation Center.

(a) Within 15 days of the date of this memorandum, the Chairman of CEQ shall establish and lead an interagency Permitting Innovation Center that will design and test prototype tools that could be implemented pursuant to the Permitting Technology Action Plan for NEPA reviews and other environmental permits and authorizations. The Permitting Innovation Center shall facilitate agency adoption of prototype software systems, including for case management systems, application submission and tracking portals, automation of application and review processes, data exchange between agency systems, and acceleration of complex reviews.

(b) The Administrator of General Services, through the General Service Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, shall provide support for the establishment of the Permitting Innovation Center consistent with applicable law.

DONALD J. TRUMP