The Department of the Interior is now setting it in stone: the permitting review process for energy projects must last no longer than 28 days.
In a statement, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced: “We are cutting through unnecessary delays to fast-track the development of American energy and critical minerals, resources that are essential to our economy, our military readiness, and our global competitiveness.”
The Secretary added that by reducing what he said had been a “multi-year permitting process” down to just 28 days, the Interior Department will embrace a “clear focus on strengthening the nation’s energy independence.”
As part of the shortening process, the Interior Department has put together a draft request that companies and developers can submit, part of which will require them to abide by all environmental laws, in particular both Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act requirements.
Also folded into the new process are frameworks for securing Endangered Species Act as well as National Historic Preservation Act consultations.
The new process will impact a wide variety of natural gas, crude oil, coal, natural gas liquid, and kinetic hydropower projects across the country.
Bergum’s announcement was praised by the Houston-based Institute for Energy Research which said that delayed permitting had created “bottlenecks that cause higher energy prices, and limited affordability energy from reaching consumers,” while making the U.S. dependent on mineral imports.
The new Interior Department ruling, however, is raising questions in some quarters.
The publication E&E News said any move to limit project reviews raises a question of “what role the states and tribes will play,” as well as whether the federal government has the “capacity to shepherd projects through the truncated process.”
At the same time, Forbes is warning that “major environmental laws are part of America’s social contract.” The publication continues: “Any effort that would involve the diminution of protections supported by existing requirements is likely to be met with equally widespread disapproval.”
May 2, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
