Environmental reviews in name only?
The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to fast-track environmental reviews of fossil fuel and mining projects — a move experts say is almost guaranteed to cause environmental harm and legal headaches.
The new 28-day review period, analysts told Ian M. Stevenson, makes it next to impossible to comply with federal requirements under the decades-old National Environmental Policy Act.
'It takes longer to get a mortgage,' said Jamie Pleune, a law professor at the University of Utah.
The landmark environmental law requires agencies to assess a project's environmental effects before greenlighting development. That can take more than a year, a timeline that doesn't conform with President Donald Trump's plan to expand fossil fuels and critical mineral mining. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has touted the shift as a way to cut 'unnecessary delays.'
The industries eligible for the fast-tracked process include coal, oil, natural gas, critical minerals, hydropower, geothermal and uranium. Wind and solar projects are excluded.
Federal workers and other experts say the move will likely result in environmental analyses that contain little or no recognition of environmental factors on the ground.
Take, for example, the reality of seasons. If a project is proposed in the dead of winter, an environmental review would not be able to count bird species that live in the area or what plants grow along nearby streams.
'The idea that you could compress a multiyear time frame for analyzing a complex mining operation into less than a month and still protect water quality and public health is absurd,' said John Robison with the Idaho Conservation League. 'This is a recipe for either public health disasters or litigation.'
On the litigation front, a sub-par environmental analysis could ultimately hurt project developers in court. If, for example, there are naturally occurring heavy metals at a project site, but they are not included in a rushed environmental review, the company could get dinged later if those minerals leach.
Still, developers have long complained about lengthy and sometimes unpredictable NEPA reviews — and may want to take advantage of Trump's policies favoring industry.
The streamlining has already begun. This week, the Trump administration announced it would take a mere two weeks to process the federal permits to reopen a uranium mine in Utah.
It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net.
Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Josh Siegel and James Bikales break down House Republicans' plan to repeal and phase out major energy portions of Democrats' 2022 climate law.
Power Centers
Trump plans sweeping energy auditThe Trump administration has announced a wide-ranging review of more than $15 billion in federal awards approved under former President Joe Biden, writes Hannah Northey.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright in a memo to staff called for ramping up oversight of at least 179 awards and said decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis about whether the awards meet the administration's standards.
Hurricane season is comingVacancies at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are raising fears that cuts to the federal workforce have left the country with too few experts to help prepare for weather disasters ahead of the looming Atlantic hurricane season, writes Zack Colman.
NOAA managers are pleading with employees to pursue reassignments to fill 155 vacancies at the National Weather Service, the public safety agency whose regional offices make up the nation's first line of defense for imminent storms and disasters. For many employees, such jobs would amount to demotions.
Climate change drives tropical disease outbreakA new study published Thursday warns that tiger mosquitoes are increasingly spreading to Europe because of climate change, raising the risk that some tropical diseases become endemic across the continent, writes Elena Giordano.
Nearly half the global population is now at risk of contracting dengue and chikungunya, which were once limited to the tropics, due to the warming planet. Both viruses, transmitted by mosquitoes, can occasionally be fatal.
In Other News
Uneven toll: Redlining shaped the power grid. Communities of color are still paying the price.
Life after the Hindenburg: Why these start-ups think zeppelins could be the future of air travel.
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A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.
An impending Supreme Court decision related to birthright citizenship could have broad implications for the Trump administration's policies, including its 'energy dominance' agenda.
The Senate confirmed Sean Donahue, Trump's nominee, to be the Environmental Protection Agency's chief legal officer.
FERC Chair Mark Christie on Thursday said the social cost of carbon is a 'bogus' measure backed by 'junk science.'
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
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