Dream.Org Commends First Federal Agencies to Collaborate on Expediting Permitting Processes

On Tuesday, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Brenda Mallory announced that the Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce will be the first federal agencies to expedite the deployment of clean energy technologies by leveraging new permitting efficiencies in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Adopting categorical exclusions from the Department of Energy, the agencies will accelerate electric vehicle (EV) component manufacturing and EV charging infrastructure expansion. Shared categorical exclusions will help agencies bypass traditional review processes for projects that have already been proven not to cause significant environmental harm. 

After the announcement, Dream.Org Vice President of Political Strategy Janos Marton issued the following statement: 

“Dream.Org commends the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, and the CEQ for pioneering efforts to collaboratively streamline permitting through shared categorical exclusions. If responsibly replicated, this model has the potential to scale common-sense clean energy investments and meet the urgent demands of climate change. While this opportunity for collaboration will be critical to expanding green projects, categorical exclusions cannot take the place of robust environmental reviews and community engagement in the permitting process.

“We encourage other federal agencies to seek similar opportunities for sharing categorical exclusions and look forward to the White House CEQ’s administration of collaborative partnerships in the future. We also hope the CEQ will explore adopting the expanded use of existing categorical exclusions for wind, retrofitting, transmission, and other clean energy infrastructure so we can achieve our shared goal of a green future for all.”