Faster Federal Permitting Urged Under New White House Guidance

The White House issued new guidance Monday to hasten the federal permitting process, the latest in a long series of steps the Trump administration has taken to turbocharge the proceedings.

The Council on Environmental Quality’s new guidance, which replaces similar guidance issued in February, aligns with the Republican argument that the long timelines and uncertainty involved in federal permitting scare away private investment and leave the US trailing China and other countries where infrastructure can get built far more quickly.

One of CEQ’s new measures is a template to help federal agencies update their internal permitting rules under ...