WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is promising expedited federal permits for energy projects and other construction worth more than $1 billion. But like other Trump plans, the idea is likely to run into regulatory and legislative hurdles, including a landmark law that requires federal agencies to consider the environmental impact before deciding on major projects.
In a post on his Truth Social site Tuesday, Trump said anyone making a $1 billion investment in the United States “will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals.”
“GET READY TO ROCK!!!” he added.
While Trump did not specify who would be eligible for accelerated approvals, dozens of energy projects proposed nationwide, from natural gas pipelines and export terminals to solar farms and offshore wind turbines, meet the billion-dollar criteria.
Environmental groups slammed the proposal, calling it illegal on its face and a clear violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, a 54-year-old law that requires federal agencies to study the potential environmental impact of proposed actions and consider alternatives.
“Trump is unabashedly and literally offering to sell out America to the highest corporate bidder,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action, an environmental group. She said the plan was “obviously illegal” and another example of Trump “putting special interests and corporate polluters in the driver’s seat, which would result in more pollution, higher costs and fewer energy choices for the American people.”
Alexandra Adams, chief policy advocacy officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Trump should be careful what he wishes for.
“What if someone wants to build a waste incinerator next to Mar-a-Lago or a coal mine next to Bedminster golf course?” she asked, referring to Trump’s Florida home and New Jersey golf club, respectively.
“There’s a reason Congress requires the government to take a hard look at community impacts to make sure we don’t greenlight projects that do more harm than good. Cheerleading on social media doesn’t change that reality,” Adams said.
Energy analyst Kevin Book said Trump’s post showed his usual flair for showmanship but said there was a real concern underlying it: a bipartisan push for permitting reform to speed up major environmental projects that now take years to win approval.
“The substance here is he is really serious about trying to get permitting reform done,” said Book, managing partner at ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington research firm.
“Permitting delays are an impediment in many sectors — including energy — and there are multiple billion-dollar investments waiting for permitting reform,” Book said.
A bipartisan plan championed by Senate Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the committee’s top Republican, would speed up permitting for major energy and mineral projects, but its chances are uncertain in the final few weeks of the current Congress.
Their plan would boost energy projects of all types, bringing down prices, creating domestic jobs and allowing the U.S. to continue as a global energy leader, Barrasso and Manchin say.
Critics say the bill would open major expanses of public lands and waters for oil and gas drilling and gut executive and judicial review.
“Checking off wish lists for oil, gas and mining companies is not permitting reform,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. He called the bill “a dirty deal” that would exempt some oil and gas drilling projects from federal review and “let mining companies dump even more toxic waste on our public lands.”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, said Trump’s second term will be a “golden age of regulation-cutting,” including a promise to “drill, baby, drill.”
“If you want to bring in money, he’s going to move heaven and earth to get that money in the door and get it invested in the United States,” Miller said Tuesday at a conference organized by the Wall Street Journal.
The plan applies to both domestic and foreign investment, Miller said: “He wants to get the money and he wants to get the regulations cut and get the economy moving again. ”
In the short term, Trump’s post makes permitting reform less likely this year, Book said, as Republicans seek to wait until next year when they will control both chambers of Congress and the White House. But the issue is likely to return quickly in the new year.
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this story.
