White House Action Plan and Guidance Memo on Permitting

In May 2022, the White House released the Biden-Harris Permitting Action Plan, aiming to accelerate federal permitting of infrastructure projects. The Action Plan outlined five approaches, including cross-agency coordination to appropriately scope reviews, reduce bottlenecks, and use the expertise of sector-specific teams; establishing clear timeline goals and tracking key project information; outreach and communication with Tribal Nations, States, territories, and local communities; improving agency responsiveness; and adequately resourcing agencies.

In March 2023, the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Council on Environmental Quality released a memo for federal agencies on the administration’s strategies for accelerating the permitting process of renewable energy. The memo builds on the Action Plan, and further leverages permitting provisions from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS Acts, and the Inflation Reduction Act. The memo addresses issues such as cross-agency coordination; establishing transparent permitting schedules; consolidated information collection requirements; the development of interagency sector specific teams for offshore wind energy and  transmission, onshore renewable energy and transmission, broadband, production and processing of critical minerals, and transportation; and coordination with Tribal Nations.