President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday directing federal agencies to speed up their reviewing process for the environmental effects of infrastructure projects, a bid to accelerate the construction of the roads, bridges, pipelines and rails that he promised in his campaign.
So far, the Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration have focused on healthcare and a tax overhaul since the president took office. Trump’s plans to revitalize U.S. infrastructure face an uncertain future, given the hesitation among the members of the both parties to follow the administration’s lead. Another challenges that the administration faces are identifying the sources of funding for a rebuilding program that the president has said will be worth $1 trillion or more.
Trump’s executive order, which was signed on Tuesday at Trump Tower in New York City, would sharply reduce the time federal agencies spend on environmental reviews before approving projects like new highways.
“One agency alone can stall a project for many, many years and even decades,” Trump said in a press conference. “This over-regulated permitting process is a massive self-inflicted wound on our country.”
A senior administration official said the effort to speed permitting would address concerns from elected officials of both parties who have been frustrated at the length of time it can take to win approval to build new infrastructure or replace existing structures.
Environmental attorneys reacted with alarm, saying that the administration exaggerated the postponements set by the reviews in question, and would undermine a valuable process that helps prevent irreversible damage to natural resources and neighborhoods.
“We can modernize our country without rubber-stamping hazard and fast-tracking harm,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We can’t afford to short-change our future by short-circuiting common-sense safeguards that protect clean water and air. Arbitrary decisions and artificial deadlines can lead to costly mistakes we’ll all pay for down the line.”
Kevin DeGood, director of infrastructure policy for the liberal Center for American Progress, said that the administration has embellished the degree to which the environmental analysis actually postpones construction. Long reviews are typical for the most complex and largest projects, he said. Also, some of the environmental reviews that take years are for projects that spend that same time waiting for full funding, he said, a problem that wouldn’t be solved by the administration’s new goal to complete environmental analysis within two years.
More complex challenges are still to come. Trump and his advisers have said they will push for a program that will yield $1 trillion in new infrastructure projects over a decade, with the lion’s share of the funding to come from cities and states and not the federal government.
Democrats and some Republicans have expressed concerns at this shift in the burden of financing projects to the local level, and at the administration’s intent to prioritize projects that can be funded by private investors. The need for investors to earn a return on infrastructure investments will mean increased tolls and other user fees, critics of the administration’s approach say.
Meanwhile, other items on Trump’s agenda are ahead of the infrastructure push, including an effort to overhaul the nation’s tax code. A senior official said the administration continues its infrastructure work behind the scenes, and is drafting efforts to roll back existing regulations. The administration will send a set of “principles” to Congress in the fall, which it hopes will be used to craft an infrastructure bill.
Trump said Tuesday that he expects the Democrats will ultimately support the administration’s plan, whenever it is disclosed. “Infrastructure is something I think we’ll have bipartisan support for,” he said.
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