Trump’s Pick for Permitting Chief Pledges More Agency Coordination

Trump nominee Katherine Scarlett told lawmakers on Wednesday she wants to bring agencies closer together to reach permit decisions faster if confirmed to lead the White House’s environmental policy shop.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality has already found agency procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act that date back to the 1980s and are “layered with guidance and field memos and decision memos,” Scarlett, tapped to become the office’s chair, told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

In her current role as acting CEQ chair, the office is “really trying to work within the NEPA process to ...