President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has signed a new executive order intended to make more efficient the federal permitting process for construction of transportation, water and other infrastructure projects without harming the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s order includes revoking an earlier executive order signed by President Barack Obama requiring that projects built in flood plains with federal aid take sea level rise driven by climate change into account in their design, White House officials said. Trump has suggested the predicted risks from sea level rise are overblown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A copy of Trump\u2019s executive order wasn\u2019t immediately available. Describing his action, Trump said projects will still be subjected to environmental safeguards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be quick, it\u2019s going to be a very streamlined process,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd by the way, if it doesn\u2019t meet environmental safeguards, we\u2019re not going to approve it. Very simple. We\u2019re not going to approve it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Building trade groups had urged Trump to revoke the flood plain order, saying it was overly bureaucratic and increased the cost of projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recent draft of an upcoming report from scientists representing 13 federal agencies say sea levels along U.S. coastlines could rise by more than one foot on average by 2050, potentially more in the Northeast and western Gulf of Mexico. A projected increase in the intensity of hurricanes in the North Atlantic will increase the probability of \u201cextreme coastal flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Environmentalists said Tuesday that ignoring the reality of the Earth\u2019s changing climate is shortsighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat this order will do is ensure that we will waste more taxpayer money because federal agencies will no longer have to consider long-term flood risks to federally funded infrastructure projects,\u201d said Jessica Grannis, who manages the adaptation program at the Georgetown Climate Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president, speaking at a news conference at Trump Tower in New York, said it can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and 17 years to approve an ordinary highway project because of burdensome regulations. Trump signed another executive order on streamlining environmental and public reviews of infrastructure projects his first week in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe used to have the greatest infrastructure anywhere in the world. And today we\u2019re like a third-world country,\u201d Trump said, using a term referring to the economically developing nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has said that regulations, not a lack of funding, are a primary holdup faced by transportation infrastructure projects. But a Treasury Department report released earlier this year found that \u201ca lack of public funding is by far the most common factor hindering completion\u201d of major transportation and water infrastructure projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats have said the administration would be better off implementing streamlining provisions already in law than attempting new streamlining efforts. Congress passed transportation funding laws in 2012 and 2015 with dozens of streamlining provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A report by the Transportation Department\u2019s inspector general this spring found that although the department had completed work necessary to implement a majority of the 42 streamlining provisions in the 2012 law, they had still not been implemented because regulators had to make changes to comply with the requirements of the 2015 law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shannon Eggleston, the American Association of State, Highway and Transportation Officials\u2019 program director for environment, said there is still room to make adjustments to the processes for complying with laws protecting endangered species and air quality that won\u2019t hurt the environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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