Council on Environmental Quality Launches Technology Modernization Effort to Accelerate Permitting

President Trump released an interagency memorandum recently to direct the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in consultation with the National Energy Dominance Council and relevant permitting agencies, to issue a Permitting Technology Action Plan for modernizing the technology used for Federal permitting and environmental review processes for infrastructure projects. 

The memo directs departments and agencies to make maximum use of technology in conducting environmental and permitting processes for infrastructure projects of all kinds, such as roads, bridges, mines, factories, power plants, and more. The memo directs agencies to:  

• eliminate the use of paper-based application and review processes; 

• accelerate the processing time for projects, with little to no impact on quality of review; 

• reduce the length and increase the accessibility of documents related to permit applications; 

• reduce duplicative data submissions; 

• increase the interagency use of existing analyses including analyses from other agencies relevant to different permit applications for the same projects; 

• eliminate friction in coordination between agencies in the environmental review and permitting processes; 

• improve the transparency and predictability of project permitting schedules; 

• ensure agency legal departments have the support, funding, and technology to provide the most expeditious and best defense of challenged environmental documents and permit decisions; 

• streamline the overall environmental review and permitting process at the Federal level, with the goal of speeding data gathering and decision-making that can improve timeliness for State, local and tribal decision-making as well; and 

• maintain a readily available source of information that may be relevant to judicial review of any permits. 

The memo also directs the CEQ to establish and lead an interagency Permitting Innovation Center (PIC) that will design and test prototype tools that could be implemented pursuant to the Permitting Technology Action Plan for NEPA reviews and other environmental permits and authorizations. 

To read the full White House memo on Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century, visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/updating-permitting-technology-for-the-21st-century/