Donald Trump promised to fix America’s broken permitting system.
The environmental extremists thought they could stop him with endless lawsuits and bureaucratic delays.
But Trump just slashed red tape in record time and environmentalists are absolutely panicking.
Trump delivers on permitting reform promise in just five months
President Trump wasted no time delivering on one of his biggest campaign promises to American workers and businesses.
On Monday, the White House announced that "President Donald J. Trump delivered on his promise to fix a broken permitting system, ensuring that burdensome Federal environmental reviews cannot be weaponized to stall the growth of the American economy or halt energy infrastructure construction."¹
The reforms represent the most significant overhaul of federal environmental reviews in decades.
According to the White House, "the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), coordinated a historic effort to dramatically reduce the burdens of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance across the Federal government so that America can get back to building again."¹
Multiple federal agencies worked together on this massive undertaking.
The White House reports that "in consultation with CEQ, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce (including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers updated their respective NEPA implementing procedures."¹
For too long, environmental activists have weaponized NEPA to block critical energy projects and infrastructure development.
Their strategy was simple: tie up projects in endless reviews and lawsuits until companies gave up or went bankrupt.
Trump just put an end to that game.
Historic reforms will unleash American energy dominance
The new reforms deliver three major changes that will transform how the federal government handles environmental reviews.
First, the White House explains that the reforms "implement deadlines and page limits on environmental reviews required under recent amendments to NEPA, in order to expedite infrastructure development and reduce costs."¹
That means no more endless studies that drag on for years while projects sit in limbo.
Second, the reforms "provide clarification that NEPA does not apply to every action that a Federal agency takes, but only to Federal actions where the agency has sufficient control and discretion to take environmental effects into account."¹
This common-sense approach will prevent activists from using NEPA to challenge routine government actions that have no environmental impact.
Third, the reforms "ensure simple and expeditious processes to create categorical exclusions (CEs), adopt other agencies’ CEs to minimize repetitive NEPA analyses, and focus their attention on actions with truly significant environmental effects."¹
Translation: if one agency has already determined that a type of project has no significant environmental impact, other agencies can use that determination instead of starting from scratch.
Smart move.
All three branches of government support these reforms
Trump isn’t acting alone on this issue.
The White House points out that "all three branches of the Federal government have recently directed reforms to the NEPA process: President Trump, in his Unleashing American Energy Executive Order; the United States Congress, in its BUILDER Act amendments as part of the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act; and the United States Supreme Court in its recent landmark decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County."¹
But here’s the shocking part that shows just how broken the system was.
According to the White House, "most of those procedures had not been modernized to reflect any of the recent reforms. Some agencies were still using outdated NEPA regulations from the 1980s."¹
That’s right – for over 40 years, these agencies have been using the same bureaucratic procedures that were designed for a different era.
The White House reports that "under President Trump’s leadership, the endless cycle of regulatory back-and-forth and excessive environmental reviews that produced little benefit for the American people has come to a halt."¹
Environmental extremists are running scared
The environmental lobby is in full panic mode over Trump’s reforms.
They know their days of using endless lawsuits and bureaucratic delays to kill American energy projects are numbered.
For decades, they’ve used NEPA as a weapon to stop everything from oil pipelines to natural gas facilities to mining operations.
Their strategy was to bog down projects in so much red tape that companies would eventually give up.
But Trump just pulled the rug out from under them.
The White House notes that "federal agencies are cutting unnecessary layers of bureaucracy in record time by implementing the unmistakable direction from all three branches of the Federal government."¹
America is getting back to building again
The reforms build on the success Trump achieved on his first day back in office.
According to the White House, "on January 20, 2025, President Trump signed the Executive Order, Unleashing American Energy, which called for unleashing American energy dominance through efficient permitting."¹
That order "directed CEQ to provide guidance on implementing NEPA to expedite and simplify the permitting process – and propose rescinding CEQ’s regulations."¹
The White House reports that "CEQ responded to President Trump’s direction by rescinding its NEPA regulations, creating a clear path for agencies to expeditiously reform their own NEPA procedures and allow America to build again."¹
This is exactly what American businesses and workers have been waiting for.
For too long, critical infrastructure projects have been held hostage by environmental extremists who care more about stopping development than creating jobs for American families.
Trump just gave those families hope that their government will finally work for them instead of against them.
The White House emphasizes that "President Trump’s action to restore CEQ to its core statutory mission of coordinating and consulting, providing guidance to Federal agencies as they revise their NEPA procedures, will ensure timely reviews and consistency across agencies and enable CEQ to coordinate this monumental deregulatory effort."¹
The environmental lobby thought they could outlast Trump and continue their war on American energy.
They were wrong.
And now they’re scrambling to figure out their next move as Trump systematically dismantles the regulatory stranglehold they’ve had on American infrastructure for decades.
¹ The White House, "Fact Sheet: President Trump Is Delivering Historic Permitting Wins Across the Federal Government," June 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/06/fact-sheet-president-trump-is-delivering-historic-permitting-wins-across-the-federal-government/
