Interior Department to Reduce Approval Times for Energy Projects to 28 Days

The department will implement emergency permitting procedures to speed up energy and mining projects on federal land.

A pump jack operates near a crude oil reserve in the Permian Basin oil field near Midland, Texas, on Feb. 18, 2025. Eli Hartman/Reuters

The Department of the Interior will implement emergency permitting procedures to accelerate the development of energy resources and critical minerals in the United States, it said on April 23.

The new procedures will reduce approval times—which typically take months or even years—to no more than 28 days, according to the department.

In a statement, the department said the measures are designed to expedite the review and approval process for projects related to the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, or generation of energy domestically, including on federal lands.

They will apply to a wide range of energy sources, including fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal as well as uranium, geothermal, critical minerals, biofuels, and kinetic hydropower projects, it said.

Solar energy and wind energy were not listed.

The move comes in response to President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order declaring a national energy emergency. It stated that the current review and approval process for energy-related projects is inadequate and fails to meet the nation’s needs.

According to the order, delays in energy project approvals pose significant risks to America’s economic stability, national security, and foreign policy interests.

It sought to speed up the approval process while simultaneously boosting domestic energy supplies, bringing down fuel prices, and bolstering national security.

It directed the heads of executive departments and federal agencies to “identify and exercise any lawful emergency authorities available to them” to facilitate the leasing, siting, production, and generation of domestic energy sources including on federal lands, and authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to coordinate in emergency permitting provisions.

‘United States Cannot Afford to Wait’

The Interior Department said it will utilize emergency authorities under existing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act to reduce the vulnerabilities highlighted in Trump’s order and significantly reduce permitting times.

“The United States cannot afford to wait,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a statement. “President Trump has made it clear that our energy security is national security, and these emergency procedures reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting both.”

Burgum said the department is “cutting through unnecessary delays” to fast-track the development of American energy and critical minerals essential to the economy, military readiness, and 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,” Burgum stated.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a non-profit conservation organization, said the department’s move would benefit fossil fuel companies at the expense of the public.

“These so-called emergency procedures are nothing but grease on the skids for corporate interests to speed approvals that will harm people’s health, our public lands and the climate,” Randi Spivak, public lands director at CBD, said in a statement to Reuters.

Crude oil exports exceeded an annual average of 4.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2024, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) published this month.

U.S. oil production also hit a record high in November 2024, the agency said, however, crude oil export year-over-year growth slowed last year to 1 percent, well below 2023’s 14 percent growth and 2022’s 21 percent growth.

Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report.