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The NAM and its allies have long been urging federal agencies to make faster, more streamlined permitting decisions—and this week the Army Corps of Engineers took a major step toward doing just that (POLITICO Pro’s E&E News, subscription). 

What’s going on: “The Army Corps of Engineers has identified hundreds of energy projects that could be fast-tracked for federal permits in response to President Donald Trump’s ‘energy emergency’ declaration.”

• Tapped projects include the critical Line 5 oil pipeline under Lake Michigan— which transports light crude oil and natural gas—an Idaho gold-mining endeavor and a pipeline linked to an oil terminal near Freeport, Texas.
• The Corps “could potentially approve the roughly 600 pending permits without going through the normal environmental review process under the Clean Water Act, legal experts said.”  

The order: The executive order under which the permits are to be fast-tracked is “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” released on day one of Trump’s presidency. Among other actions, the EO:

• Authorizes the heads of all federal agencies and departments to use emergency powers to facilitate domestic energy development and production.
• Requires a report from the Corps and other agencies on possible and planned permitting provisions to expedite energy infrastructure permitting under various legislative measures. 
• Mandates that agencies use emergency authority under the Endangered Species Act to expedite energy project permitting consultations.    

The Clean Water Act factor: “Under the Clean Water Act, the Army Corps is charged with reviewing federal permits for activities that could affect wetlands and surface waters,” E&E News reports.

• “A company seeking to fill in wetlands to build a subdivision, for example, would typically need approval from the Corps first. At times, the agency has required companies to avoid harming waters and wetlands or to commit to restoring wetlands elsewhere in order to offset for pollution from their project.”
• “But Trump’s executive order directed the agency to give some projects ‘emergency treatment’ pursuant to the Clean Water Act.”  

Critical minerals: Another key set of projects on the fast-track list: undertakings related to critical minerals, the production of which China largely controls.  

• One of these is the Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains, which the previous administration greenlighted last year. It “could be the nation’s first mine to produce antimony, a mineral at the center of a national trade spat with China.”
• In December, China banned exports of antimony—an element used in numerous military applications—to the U.S., which currently has just one antimony processor.  

The last word: “For years, manufacturers have been urging federal agencies to make faster decisions,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons wrote in a social post Wednesday. President Trump’s “decision to fast-track upwards of 600 energy infrastructure permits shows his administration’s commitment to permitting reform and achieving American energy dominance.”