Trump administration trying to fast track fossil fuel projects during pandemic, documents reveal

Environmental activists warn that dozens of 'dangerous projects' risk being 'rubber-stamped'

The Trump administration is attempting to fast-track environmental reviews of dozens of drilling, mining and infrastructure projects, after the president claimed it was necessary during the coronavirus pandemic.

The documents, seen by The Independent, reveal that the president's executive order in June led the Department of Interior to consider exemptions to key provisions of landmark environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for more than 60 major projects.

On 15 July, Assistant Interior Secretary Katherine MacGregor sent a letter to White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, with an attached list of target projects for expedited environmental reviews.

Among the projects is the Jordan Cove liquid natural gas export terminal in Oregon; the Converse County Oil and Gas Project, which will allow 5,000 new wells in Wyoming, and the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline in Virginia. The list for expedited approval also features solar and wind farms, and projects for energy storage and transmission, water delivery and highway construction.

The letter, obtained via a lawsuit by the Centre for Biological Diversity (CBD), contains no specifics on how the review process would be sped up, noting that projects “are within the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to perform or advance”.

In a statement on Wednesday, CBD said that the documents revealed that "dozens of dangerous projects" risked being "rubber-stamped" without undergoing environmental review.

“Rushing to approve more climate-killing fossil fuel projects while ignoring environmental harms is wrong, and using Covid-19 as an excuse is despicable,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at CBD.

“This massive giveaway to special interests shows the Trump administration only cares about currying favour with polluters. Poisoning our air and killing endangered wildlife won’t help fight the coronavirus.”

The Centre brought a federal lawsuit to gain access to documents related to the president's order on June 4, after an initial request under the Freedom of Information Act was denied.

Ms MacGregor’s letter said that some projects had been placed on shorter schedules before Mr Trump’s order. Some of those that were on the list were recently completed, such as last month’s approval of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In an email to The Independent, a spokesman for the Interior Department said: "For far too long, critically important infrastructure, energy and other economic development projects have been needlessly paralysed by federal red tape. The Trump Administration has taken significant steps to improve the federal government’s decision-making process, while also ensuring that the environmental consequences of proposed projects are thoughtfully analysed."

The president’s executive order in June directed federal officials to pursue emergency workarounds of NEPA and ESA, decades-old legislation that has formed the bedrock of environmental protections in the US. Mr Trump said the action was necessary because the virus had slowed down large segments of society and brought massive unemployment.

The president unveiled his proposed changes to NEPA during a trip to Atlanta in July. Mr Trump has long complained that the red tape of federal legislation stifles infrastructure projects and jobs.

Referencing holdups to Trump Organisation construction projects, the president said: ”We just completed an unprecedented, top-to-bottom overhaul of the approval process.” He said that the legislation had cost America “trillions of dollars” and the changes will lead to more infrastructure projects.

Watering down the law, which was enacted half a century ago by Richard Nixon, is one of the most profound moves of deregulation by the Trump administration. The president has made good on his promises to dismantle and rollback dozens of major environmental and climate protections during his time in office.

Wires contributed to this report