Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday that the department’s streamlining of permits will bring department review time from potentially years to just 28 days.
Following President Donald Trump’s National Emergency Declaration, the Department of the Interior under Secretary Burgum moved to implement emergency permitting procedures to accelerate the development of energy resources and critical minerals.
The energy resources which will be included in the fast-tracked permitting process include:
- Crude oil
- Natural gas
- Lease condensates
- Natural gas liquids
- Refined petroleum products
- Uranium
- Coal
- Biofuels
- Geothermal energy
- Kinetic hydropower
- Critical minerals
Burgum said in a statement that it is a matter of national security to shorten the permitting process.
He said in a written statement:
The United States cannot afford to wait. President Trump has made it clear that our energy security is national security, and these emergency procedures reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting both. 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.
He continued, “By reducing a multi-year permitting process down to just 28 days, the Department will lead with urgency, resolve, and a clear focus on strengthening the nation’s energy independence.”
“In response, the Department will utilize emergency authorities under existing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act,” the Interior Department press release stated. “The procedures, outlined below, will significantly enable faster permitting timelines—reducing processes that typically take several months or years to just weeks.”
The department will also adopt an alternative National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance process:
- Projects analyzed in an environmental assessment, normally taking up to one year, will now be reviewed within approximately 14 days.
- Projects requiring a full environmental impact statement, typically a two-year process, will be reviewed in roughly 28 days.
“Accordingly, the Department of the Interior is acting swiftly to reduce these vulnerabilities by facilitating the rapid permitting of energy and critical mineral projects that are vital to the nation’s economic resilience and energy independence,” the Interior Department release concluded.
During a policy event hosted by Breitbart News in March, Burgum discussed the “four babies” of energy development, which includes, “map baby map, mine baby mine, and then if we — the third one is build baby build.” And of course, there is drill baby drill.
“We’ve got to start building. Got to build power generation. We’ve got to build more base load power. We got dangerously out of whack between intermittent, unreliable, expensive, versus the affordable, low-cost base load. That endangers our whole grid. … Those are the, sort of the four babies,” he added.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
