Trump Signs Executive Order to Expedite Infrastructure Investments to Recover Economy from COVID-19

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 4 directing federal agencies to use emergency powers to expedite infrastructure projects to facilitate recovery from the economic slowdown caused by COVID-19. The order allows agencies to consult with the White House Council on Environmental Quality to identify “alternative arrangements” for complying with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act during a national emergency.

“The need for continued progress in this streamlining effort is all the more acute now, due to the ongoing economic crisis,” according to the order. To this end, the order calls on the Interior, Agriculture, and Defense departments to speed the regulatory approval process for the infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and Clean Water Act.

According to the order, more than 41 million Americans filed for unemployment, resulting in an historic unemployment rate of 14.7 percent since the national emergency was declared and May 23. The order seeks to speed up American infrastructure investments by reducing the bureaucratic barriers under the national emergency. The agencies have 30 days to report the projects to regulatory agencies.

The energy industry, including oil and natural gas industry groups welcome the requirements in the order, regarding it as an effective job-creation and economic revitalization effort. Environmental organizations, however, worry that the accelerated rulemaking process in the order will ignore the review of projects’ environmental impacts and destroy the air and water quality and cause damage to the communities.