White House Permitting Office Delays Plans to Charge User Fees

Renewable energy companies, states trying to build roads and bridges, and other project developers can continue to get special permitting attention from the federal government for free, despite what the Biden administration’s new regulatory agenda says.

That document claims the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council is considering proposing by April a fee structure for project sponsors to pay back the government for “reasonable costs” of the office’s services, which are currently free.

The services provided by the council include bringing agencies together early in the permitting process to coordinate their work, hunting down potential trouble spots before they derail the ...