Yesterday, President-elect Donald Trump promised to expedite all federal permitting for energy projects and other construction projects worth more than $1 billion. However, the idea is likely to run into regulatory hurdles, including a law requiring federal agencies to consider environmental impacts before deciding on major projects.
In a post published Tuesday on his Truth Social, Trump stated that anyone making a $1 billion investment in the U.S. “will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals.”
Although the president-elect did not specify who would benefit from such approvals, dozens of proposed energy projects nationwide, from gas pipelines and natural gas export terminals to solar farms and offshore wind turbines, meet the “criteria” demanded by Trump.
Environmental groups, for their part, have already sharply criticized the proposal, calling it illegal as well as a clear violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, a law that requires federal agencies to study the potential environmental impacts of proposed actions and to 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, “the plan 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.”
“What if someone wants to build a waste incinerator next to Mar-a-Lago or a coal mine next to Bedminster golf course?”, said Alexandra Adams, policy advocacy manager of the Natural Resources Defense Council, “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”.
According to energy analyst Kevin Book, Trump is serious about promoting permit reform to expedite major environmental projects, which to date are approved after years of evaluation. Critics say the bill would open large expanses of public lands and waters to oil and gas drilling.
For Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, this second term will be a “golden age of regulation-cutting”, and added, “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”. The implication however, is, at what cost to the environment?
