RESOURCE-RICH WESTERN STATES are the main focus of a new Trump administration effort to reach formal agreements with states to push projects through the environmental permitting process faster, a top federal permitting official said.
- The administration aims to replicate the first-of-its-kind deal creating a special relationship between the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, Alaska, and project developers who want to build within the state’s borders. The council says it can shave 18 months off a project’s review time on average.
- Western states are an especially good fit for the council’s expertise because, like Alaska, they have “big overlaps between federal, ...