WASHINGTON—The Department of Interior has announced emergency permitting procedures aimed at expediting the development of domestic energy resources and critical minerals. The department says the new guidelines will condense permitting to a maximum of four weeks.

The order is in direct response to President Trump’s recent National Energy Emergency declaration, aimed at strengthening U.S. energy infrastructure and cutting down reliance on other countries.

“Our nation’s current inadequate development of domestic energy resources leaves us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and poses an imminent and growing threat to the United States’ prosperity and national security,” Trump’s National Energy Emergency declaration states.

According to the department, the expedited permitting applies to a wide array of energy sources and related projects, including fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products and coal), alternative and renewable energy (biofuels, geothermal energy and kinetic hydropower), and critical minerals and nuclear energy (uranium and other essential minerals vital for various industrial and defense applications).

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum emphasizes the urgency and importance of the new permitting procedures. “The United States cannot afford to wait,” Burgum says. “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.

“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.”

Emergency Levers

In its announcement, the DOI says it is invoking emergency levers that exist under current regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.

“The procedures will significantly enable faster permitting timelines—reducing processes that typically take several months or years to just weeks,” the Interior Department writes.

The Department says it plans to adopt an alternative National Environmental Policy Act compliance process that will “allow for more concise documents and a compressed timeline.” Specifically, projects analyzed in an environmental assessment—normally taking up to a year—will now be reviewed within two weeks, and projects that require a full environmental impact statement, which is typically a two-year process, will now be reviewed within four weeks, the Department clarifies.

The changes under the Endangered Species Act involve an expedited consultation process that DOI says involves two steps. First, the appropriate bureau notifies the Fish and Wildlife Service that it is using emergency consultation procedures. Second, it coordinates with FWS informally and “proceeds with the proposed action if the necessary requirements of other departments and agencies are met.”

Once the emergency concludes, DOI notes, the ESA requires an agency to initiate formal consultation with FWS, which will then issue a biological opinion or letter of concurrence.

Bureaus will follow emergency procedures under the National Historic Preservation Act. These processes will include notifying the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, state and tribal historic preservation officers, and any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with religious or cultural attachment to proposed project sites, the Department says. It adds that the procedures should afford these groups “an opportunity to comment within seven days of the notification.”

To benefit from the expedited procedures under NEPA, the ESA, or the National Historic Preservation Act, applicants must ask to use them in writing.

While speeding up domestic energy development is the main goal, the DOI assures environmental safeguards will not be cast aside. The emergency procedures are meant to function within the boundaries of existing environmental laws and regulations, ensuring projects continue to comply with national standards, the Department assures.

The Petroleum Association of Wyoming applauded the accelerated procedures. “The federal permitting process has become unworkable, bogged down by red tape and bureaucratic delays,” PAW says. “Today, permits are almost guaranteed to face legal challenges from activists who seek to halt all development of U.S. resources—regardless of thorough environmental review. One need look no further than the Converse County environmental impact statement, which, despite nearly a decade of study, is still being challenged in court. Clearly, change is needed.

“We appreciate the administration’s efforts to evaluate the permitting process and urge Congress to pass comprehensive permitting reform,” PAW adds.