(Reuters) – The Trump administration on Wednesday said it would implement an emergency permitting process for energy and mining projects on federal lands, slashing approval times that typically take months or years to at most 28 days.
The U.S. Department of the Interior move is in response to President Donald Trump’s national energy emergency declaration, which he made on his first day in office to speed permitting in an effort to boost domestic energy supplies, bring down fuel prices and bolster national security.
In a statement, the DOI said the emergency procedures would apply to fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal, uranium, geothermal, critical minerals, biofuels and kinetic hydropower projects.
It did not list solar energy, which leads all other sources in U.S. electric capacity additions. Wind energy, which Trump has called expensive and ugly, was also omitted.
“The United States cannot afford to wait,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in the statement.
“By reducing a multi-year permitting process down to just 28 days, the department will lead with urgency, resolve, and a clear focus on strengthening the nation’s energy independence,” said Burgum.
Industry groups have long complained that the process for permitting projects on federal lands and waters is slow and costly.
But it remains to be seen if the measures will have any impact on U.S. oil production, which is already near record levels as drillers chase high prices in the wake of sanctions on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The DOI said it would use alternative means to comply with decades-old laws that are the foundation of U.S. environmental protection, including the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and National Historic Preservation Act.
Environmental group Center for Biological Diversity said the effort would benefit fossil fuel companies at the expense of the public.
“These so-called emergency procedures are nothing but grease on the skids for corporate interests to speed approvals that will harm people’s health, our public lands and the climate,” Randi Spivak, public lands director at CBD, said in a statement.
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