President Trump will announce a pair of executive orders on Wednesday to help U.S. energy companies more quickly build pipelines and other infrastructure projects by expediting the environmental review process and by weakening states’ ability to block them.
The Trump administration, acting at the behest of the oil and gas industry, aims to stop liberal states like New York from halting pipeline projects using Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which requires applicants to prove that potential leaks from an energy infrastructure project would not harm nearby streams or lakes.
Most notably, the state of New York has used that authority to block construction of the 125-mile Constitution Pipeline from Pennsylvania, which would provide natural gas from the Marcellus formation to the state, despite the project earning approval in 2014 from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The administration, Republican lawmakers, and industry argue some states are abusing the authority and rejecting permits for political and policy reasons, as part of a broader opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure.
“There are a lot of problems with the way the Clean Water Act is being interpreted,” a Trump administration official told reporters Tuesday night. “These two executive orders will promote the development of new energy infrastructure, create jobs, and provide affordable energy to consumers.”
The Trump administration and its allies say a lack of sufficient pipelines has prevented industry from moving a a glut of oil and gas in producing areas to consuming areas in the Northeast, which suffer high energy prices during the winter because of a lack of supply.
“I am hopeful there is something that can be enacted that helps the situation,” said Tony Clark, a former Republican commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which reviews interstate pipeline projects. “It’s not good right now in terms of some states engaging in pure politics to stop projects needed in an entire region.”
The Trump administration official said the president’s executive order directs the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate and update the guidance it provides to states on how to use its Clean Water Act authority. For example, it is advising the EPA to encourage states to make quicker decisions over water permits.
“We are not trying to take power from the states,” the official said. “We are trying to make sure state actions comply with the intent of the law.”
The order would also change Transportation Department rules to allow for the shipment of liquified natural gas by rail or tanker truck to the Northeast, to get around barriers in that region.
Trump’s second executive order seeks to streamline the approval process for energy infrastructure projects that cross U.S. borders, by giving the president direct authority over issuing permits, instead of delegating the permitting to the State Department, which currently handles the licensing of cross-border energy projects. It would formalize an action Trump took last week to issue a presidential permit to allow the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline project to move forward. Environmental groups quickly sued, claiming Trump lacked the authority to issue that permit.
It’s unclear how much of an effect Trump’s new orders will have. ClearView, an energy research firm, says substantial changes to the Clean Water Act provision require action by Congress.
“We don’t think the executive order can stop states from saying no if they have a good reason,” said Christi Tezak, a managing director at ClearView who studies energy infrastructure.
And federal judges have also delayed the building of major natural gas infrastructure projects in Mid-Atlantic states in response to legal challenges, rejecting permits for the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines because of deficient environmental reviews from the federal government.
Some states are already pushing back at Trump’s moves to re-evaluate the Clean Water Act authority.
The Western Governors Association, which has Republican members, has warned Trump against doing anything to upset the traditional collaboration between states and the federal government on environmental reviews.
“Western Governors have consistently asserted that curtailing or reducing state authority under Clean Water Act Section 401 would inflict serious harm to the division of state and federal authorities established by Congress,” the association said in a statement.
