White House Outlines Pilot Permitting Reform Project

The White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Permitting Innovation Center launched a pilot program last week, CE Works tool, that will attempt to speed up the environmental permitting process. Specifically, CE Works will provide federal agencies with a digital pathway to apply categorical exclusions (CEs) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Federal agency staff will be able to use the platform to select an appropriate CE, collaborate among resource experts within the agency, route the determination for approval, and generate a record for publication, according to the White House.

For the launch of the CE Works pilot program, CEQ has partnered with the Bureau of Land Management’s Moab Field Office with additional agency partnerships expected in coming months. By leading agency field tests, CEQ will leverage the on-the-ground experience to advise agencies and promote the widespread adoption of digital solutions to bring speed and efficiency to the environmental review process.

The CEQ developed the CE Works tool in collaboration with the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Technology Transformation Services. The White House said the GSA will support the accelerated work of the Permitting Innovation Center to advance critical Trump administration initiatives by providing top tech talent focused on delivering high-quality software development, infrastructure efficiencies, and an effective user experience.