As discussed at the CIRT’s recent spring conference, actions are being taken to make the most of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s investments and ensure infrastructure projects are delivered on time and on budget. The Administration is releasing its new Permitting Action Plan to strengthen and accelerate Federal permitting and environmental reviews by fully leveraging existing permitting authorities, as well as new provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
 
The Action Plan outlines the Administration’s strategy for ensuring that Federal environmental reviews and permitting processes are effective, efficient, and transparent, guided by the best available science to promote positive environmental and community outcomes, and shaped by early and meaningful public engagement. Taken together, these new steps it is hoped will help strengthen supply chains, lower costs, grow the clean energy economy, revitalize communities across the country, support good-paying jobs, and deliver infrastructure investments on task, on time, and on budget without unnecessary bureaucratic delay. 

Key Elements of the Permitting Action Plan:Strengthen federal approaches to environmental reviews and permits by:
(1) accelerating permitting through early cross-agency coordination to appropriately scope reviews, reduce bottlenecks, and use the expertise of sector-specific teams;
(2) establishing clear timeline goals and tracking key project information to improve transparency and accountability, providing increased certainty for project sponsors and the public;
(3) engaging in early and meaningful outreach and communication with Tribal Nations, States, territories, and local communities;
(4) improving agency responsiveness, technical assistance, and support to navigate the environmental review and permitting process effectively and efficiently; and
(5) adequately resourcing agencies and using the environmental review process to improve environmental and community outcomes.