Permitting
Improving American competitiveness, security, and prosperity depends on private and public stakeholders’ ability to responsibly site, build, and deploy proposed critical energy, infrastructure, and environmental restoration projects. Many of these projects must undergo some level of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, a process that requires agencies to consider the environmental impacts of their decisions.
FAS spearheaded a workstream to evaluate and recommend improvements to how agencies use talent and technology in permitting processes. Through our technology modernization work in partnership with the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, we have described how technology is currently used in permitting processes; highlighted pockets of innovation; and made recommendations for improved technology practices in government. Through our hiring work, FAS partnered with the Permitting Council and other agencies to identify hiring bottlenecks and challenges, hiring best practices, talent capacity strategies, and propose long-term solutions.
Findings and recommendations from our work, collected below, can support government entities in strategically leveraging talent and technology to build and implement a more efficient, effective process.
FAS today released permitting policy recommendations to improve talent and technology in the federal permitting process. These recommendations will address the sometimes years-long bottlenecks that prevent implementation of crucial projects, from energy to transportation.
The United States faces urgent challenges related to aging infrastructure, vulnerable energy systems, and economic competitiveness. But the permitting workforce is unprepared to implement changes. Here’s how they can improve.
Improving American competitiveness, security, and prosperity depends on private and public stakeholders’ ability to responsibly site, build, and deploy proposed critical energy, infrastructure, and environmental restoration projects.
Adoption of best practices across the ecosystem will help to improve hiring outcomes, reduce process delays, and enhance the overall hiring experience for all parties involved.
We don’t control the externalities that can make or break hiring — changing budgets, timelines and workload, priority shifts — but we can influence the quality of our talent acquisition relationships, whether we are a hiring manager or an HR professional.
In the world of permitting, there are two distinct areas: (1) environmental reviews under NEPA and a state’s equivalent and (2) the permitting process made up of permit forms and checkboxes.
As AI is seen as the golden ticket to fixing all of our problems, we wanted to take a step back and say, “Where are places that are ripe for technology?” and “Where do we need to lean in policy and process reform?”.
Historical federal investments in climate resilience, clean energy, and new infrastructure will all hinge on the government’s ability to efficiently permit, site, and build key projects.
A recent wave of historic federal investments in climate resilience, the clean energy transition, and new infrastructure means the government must deliver on a sprawling range of new projects tied to our national environmental goals.
To achieve NEPA’s objectives, federal agencies need a new, unified approach to technology capable of modernizing federal permitting and related processes.
wildfire,
federal permitting
Design Research,
Customer Experience
Government innovation