Biden Issues Long-Awaited Second Group of Permitting Fixes (1)

The White House on Friday issued its long-awaited second set of changes to the nation’s environmental permitting rules, trying to strike a delicate balance between tossing out Trump-era initiatives while simultaneously promoting clean energy infrastructure and strengthening environmental protections.

Those three goals aren’t perfectly aligned, leaving the White House Council on Environmental Quality open to criticism from big business, environmentalists, Republicans, and Democrats that it’s both overstepping and not going far enough.

If finalized, the rules would apply to a wide range of infrastructure works, including renewable energy projects, transmission lines, clean water infrastructure, roads, and bridges—many of which are ...