The Interior Department said late Wednesday that it would fast-track approvals for projects involving coal, gas, oil and minerals on public lands, arguing that President Trump’s declaration of an energy emergency allowed it to radically reduce lengthy reviews required by the nation’s bedrock environmental laws.
Environmental reviews that typically take a year to complete would be finished in 14 days, administration officials said. More complicated environmental impact statements that usually take two years would be completed in 28 days, they said.
“The United States cannot afford to wait,” Doug Burgum, the Interior secretary, said in a statement.
The shortcuts would apply to projects that increase the production of crude oil, natural gas, critical minerals, uranium, lease condensates, coal, biofuels, geothermal energy, kinetic hydropower and refined petroleum products, according to the department.
“We are cutting through unnecessary delays to fast-track the development of American energy and critical minerals—resources that are essential to our economy, our military readiness, and our global competitiveness,” Mr. Burgum said.
He said that the agency intended to condense reviews by claiming emergency authorities provided by the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
But the United States does not face an energy emergency, according to dozens of energy experts who have noted that the U.S. produces more than it consumes. The Biden administration oversaw the biggest oil and gas boom in American history and sought to increase wind, solar and other sources of renewable power. The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, and is producing more oil than any other country, including Saudi Arabia.
And despite his declaration of an energy emergency, Mr. Trump has promoted only fossil fuels and taken steps to throttle renewable energy sources. Last week, his administration ordered a halt to a major offshore wind project that was fully permitted and under construction in New York. If completed, the project would power more than 500,000 homes.
Mr. Trump’s vision for American energy is “drill, baby, drill,” a favorite phrase he used during his inauguration speech in January. When he signed the emergency order later that day, he said it “means you can do whatever you have to do to get out of that problem.”
Federal law requires the government to study how a major federal action would affect the physical, cultural and human environment before issuing permits for a project. The process is designed to give the public an opportunity to have concerns addressed before a spade is turned in the ground.
Developers, builders, companies and President Trump himself have frequently complained that the review process is too long, cumbersome and costly.
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, called the Trump administration’s move a “sweeping curtailment of all meaningful public processes.” He also accused the administration of exploiting emergency powers that were designed to speed up environmental reviews when rebuilding from a hurricane or other extenuating circumstances.
“This is manifestly illegal if for no other reason than this is all a fake emergency,” Mr. Hartl said. “We’ll be in court, and we will challenge it.”
Collin Rees, U.S. campaign manager at Oil Change International, a nonprofit group that seeks to reduce fossil fuel use, called the directive “an attempt to silence the public’s voice in decision making, taking away tools that ensure our communities have a say in the fossil fuel project proposals that threaten our water, land, and public health.”
A representative of the American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil and gas companies, said the organization was still reviewing Mr. Burgum’s announcement.
Mr. Burgum, a former governor of oil-rich North Dakota, has longstanding ties to oil and gas executives, including Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, one of the leading independent oil companies in the country.
The Interior Department manages more than 500 million acres of land and two billion acres of federal waters as well as more than 400 national parks and historic sites. The department is also responsible for upholding treaties with several hundred Native American tribes.
Mr. Burgum has said he viewed America’s public lands and waters as part of the country’s financial “balance sheet,” with potentially trillions of dollars worth of oil, gas and minerals waiting to be extracted beneath the surface.
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