The White House Office of Management and Budget, Council on Environmental Quality, Department of Transportation join Federal Agencies in Commitment to Expediting Permitting and Environmental Review for Federal Infrastructure ProjecJ

Press Release

Today, the White House Office of Management and Budget, Council on Environmental Quality, and U.S. Department of Transportation announced new actions by the Obama Administration to accelerate the Nation's critical infrastructure projects, including an enhanced Federal Infrastructure Permitting Dashboard, new guidance to Federal agencies establishing metrics for the permitting and environmental review of infrastructure projects, and the first update in nearly 30 years to the Synchronizing Environmental Reviews for Transportation and Other Infrastructure Projects handbook (known as the Red Book) -- an interagency effort spearheaded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

President Obama has been committed to building a 21st century infrastructure that will strengthen our Nation's economy, create jobs, and improve U.S. competitiveness in the global market, while also improving environmental and community outcomes. From taking executive action through the 2011 Presidential Memorandum and 2012 Executive Order to speed infrastructure development and improve and expand permitting reform government-wide, proposing a six-year surface transportation reauthorization, the GROW AMERICA Act, which increases investment and includes a series of legislative proposals to further expand on efforts to increase the efficiency of project delivery, to releasing the 2014 comprehensive plan to modernize infrastructure permitting, the President has worked to ensure America has a first-class infrastructure.

As part of these efforts, Federal agencies previously expedited the review and permitting of over 50 major infrastructure projects, including bridges, transit, railways, waterways, roads, and renewable energy projects, employing common sense practices like running different reviews concurrently rather than sequentially, and using the Administration's online Dashboard to promote accountability for a shared schedule. Over half of those projects have completed the permitting process, yielding notable successes like the permitting of the Tappan Zee Bridge in just a year and a half. The Administration's 2014 comprehensive plan offered recommendations to expand on those initial projects, and today's actions fulfill several key recommendations from that plan.

Traditionally, the federal permitting and environmental review process can take months and, sometimes years to complete, layered with complex requirements and costing millions of taxpayer dollars. Today's announcement takes major steps to turn best practices into common practices, building on a series of successful efforts over the past several years to modernize the infrastructure permitting process, and increase investment in U.S. infrastructure.

"To deliver infrastructure projects that achieve real impacts for the American people, we need to act with urgency and recognize that every day counts," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "Today's actions help us get there. We are pushing ourselves to improve efficiency, coordination, and collaboration, so that federal permitting becomes a sprint rather than a relay race."

"Our Nation's economy thrives when the foundation of America's communities -- from roads and bridges to ports and waterways - are built to meet the needs and requirements of the 21st Century," said White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan. "Today's actions reflect this Administration's continued commitment to meet those needs by further improving the efficiency of the Federal permitting process in an environmentally sound way and accelerating U.S. economic growth and competiveness."

"This Administration has worked hard to improve the efficiency of the environmental review processes to ensure Federal permitting decisions and environmental reviews are timely and responsive," said White House Council on Environmental Quality Managing Director Christy Goldfuss. "Today's announcements reflect the Administration's commitment to conducting the hard work necessary to harmonize economic growth, infrastructure development, and environmental protections."

"The Army Corps of Engineers is proud of partnering with other federal agencies to update the "Synchronizing Environmental Reviews for Transportation and Other Infrastructure Projects', also known as the Red Book," said Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy. "The Red Book supports more timely permit decisions, allowing a diverse set of infrastructure projects to advance through the permitting process in a more transparent and efficient manner. Infrastructure projects will be evaluated and permitted faster."

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