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ARTICLE · 02 FEBRUARY 2017

Trump Signs Executive Order Expediting Environmental Permitting For High Priority Infrastructure

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In one of the first acts of his presidency, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order entitled "Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High Priority Infrastructure Projects".

United StatesEnvironment
Kathleen Brill
Kathleen Brill
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In one of the first acts of his presidency, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order entitled "Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High Priority Infrastructure Projects", with a stated goal of streamlining environmental permitting for infrastructure projects.

The order establishes a process by which the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality may be petitioned to designate an infrastructure project as "high priority".  The Chairman may decide whether a given project should be so designate based on the project's "importance to the general welfare, value to the Nation, environmental benefits, and other factors."  Upon such designation, the Chairman must establish "expedited procedures and deadlines" for completion of all environmental reviews and approvals.  All federal agencies must comply with the established deadlines.  If the deadlines are not met, the head of the agency must provide a written explanation to the Chairman regarding the

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