CEI releases new report detailing how states are improving environmental permitting policies
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Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report detailing how states across the country are improving their environmental permitting systems to become more transparent, efficient, and free from government overreach. Reforming permitting on the state level is crucial for meeting energy demands and modernizing infrastructure.
Several states have enacted reforms to their environmental permitting processes. Some states have successfully created long-lasting reforms that have bettered the business environment on both local and state levels. Others have struggled to maintain reforms in the face of environmental criticism from activists and lawmakers.
“When state reforms produce measurable results, they can provide a foundation of evidence to support similar efforts in other jurisdictions, including at the federal level,” says report author James Broughel. “Reforms may also be easier to enact and implement at the state level, where political environments tend to be more homogeneous and opposition from interest groups less organized.”
States that have not yet produced lasting reforms can use other states as models for legislation. Reforms should be designed and implemented to fit each state’s individual needs, but general suggestions for every state include:
- Online permit tracking systems – States like Virginia, Washington, Iowa, Arizona, and Pennsylvania created online permit tracking databases that promotes transparency, accountability, and efficiency.
- Process improvement strategies – These strategies, namely the Lean and Kaizen methods, focus on eliminating waste, streamlining workflows, and continuous improvement. Iowa, Arizona, and Colorado implemented these policies and cleared major permit backlogs.
- Expedited permit processing – Project proposals are processed faster for a fee, such as in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Faster processing times boosts applicant satisfaction and prevents unnecessary taxpayer burdens.
- Third party reviews – Adopted in Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Virginia, and Tennessee, allowing outside permit reviewers to analyze applications helps prevent bureaucratic red tape and speeds up processing times.
- Standardized application processing timelines – Establishing consistent, predictable timeframes for application decisions allows for project transparency and helps set expectations, with room for timeline tiering based on project complexity. States like New York, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Minnesota have implemented this system.
Passing meaningful reforms help state economies; maintaining an efficient permitting system encourages competition in the business marketplace.
“While state-level permitting reforms offer promising avenues for improving regulatory processes, implementation requires careful consideration of context and potential unintended consequences,” says Broughel. “As policymakers continue to grapple with permitting challenges at all levels of government, lessons drawn from these state-level experiments can play an important role in shaping the future of environmental policy in the United States.”
Read Laboratories of Bureaucracy: How states are improving environmental permitting on CEI.org.
Read more in the environmental permitting series: