President Donald Trump has signed off on an authorization by a member of his Cabinet implementing a bold new move that Democrats have literally spent several successful decades fighting against, and they’re not going to take it well. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced Wednesday that energy projects, which typically take one to two years to secure permits, will now have their approval processes shortened to as little as 28 days. The new procedures will apply to a broad range of projects, including coal, uranium, and critical minerals. This is huge because it’s going to create a tidal wave of new jobs, not to mention make America secure again.
The announcement comes less than a week after Trump signed an executive order to accelerate critical mineral projects by increasing transparency in the permitting and review process for 10 specific mining projects. The order also establishes a Federal Permitting Dashboard to improve interagency coordination and streamline decision-making, Just the News reported.
“This tool will play an invaluable role in ensuring that these projects receive the most efficient review and authorization process possible in order to bring the benefits of next-generation infrastructure to communities across the nation,” Manisha Patel, acting executive director at the Permitting Council, said in a statement.
Burgum’s new procedures apply to permitting processes under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act. The NEPA process alone can take several years, and when combined with litigation, economic, and engineering challenges, opening new mines can often take decades. Most legal challenges come from environmental groups, many of which are already raising concerns about the Trump administration’s shortened review timelines. “Energy projects need to come online faster, but not at the expense of the health and safety of our communities. Slashing the environmental review process by this much will cause significant harm,” Kevin Zedack, government affairs specialist with Appalachian Voices, said in a statement.
An S&P Global study released last year examined 268 global development timelines from discovery to production and found that new mines in the U.S. take an average of 29 years to begin operations. Of the U.S. projects analyzed, only three had reached production since 2002, while another 10 had been in development for decades—including one dating back to 1978. The ten projects highlighted in Trump’s executive order include coal, phosphate, potash, and lithium developments. Some have been underway for decades, while others remain in early exploration. It is still uncertain how much the administration’s efforts will accelerate progress, as many projects could still be years from entering production.
