Trump's Moves to Speed Energy Projects Could Slow Them

Environmental attorney Jason Hill was quoted in an E&E News article exploring how the Trump Administration's energy dominance agenda will affect project permitting. Trump's use of executive orders and declaration of an energy emergency, along with reliance on federal agency staff reductions, intend to speed up environmental permitting reviews for projects in the fossil fuel industry. Environmental advocates and other professionals have cautioned against getting too hopeful, saying the statutory requirements for these reviews remain in place and legal challenges to Trump's moves could ultimately delay approvals and increase costs for developers. Mr. Hill, who previously served in several high-ranking positions at the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), said he does not anticipate changes to the scientific analysis of projects, adding that he thinks the administration has been careful to keep enough employees to ensure permits will continue to be reviewed an issued as normal.

"I haven't seen any indication from my interactions with the government that they're doing things any different or any less rigorous than they always have," he commented.

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