Although President Donald Trump’s initial budget proposal would slash the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s discretionary budget authority by 52% to $4.2 billion, it seeks additional funding for permitting reform, a long-time priority for manufacturers.
The fiscal year 2027 budget requests an additional $14 million for NEPAssist and other web-based permitting tools that “slash bureaucratic hurdles, reduce infrastructure permitting timelines, and alleviate burdens on project sponsors, developers, and agencies.”
According to the proposal, these investments would fulfill Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, Executive Order 14514, called “Unleashing American Energy.” It also would address priorities outlined in Trump’s April 15, 2025, presidential memorandum Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century.
The January 2025 executive order seeks to expedite and simplify permitting processes by, for example, instructing agencies to “prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives, including those of activist groups” that don’t align with the president’s policy goals. Among these policy goals are encouraging energy exploration on federal lands and waters, and encouraging production and processing of rare-earth minerals.
The Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century memorandum instructs executive departments and agencies to “make maximum use of technology” when reviewing and issuing permits for infrastructure projects. Specific goals include steps such as eliminating paper-based permit applications and reviews, speeding up reviews, reducing duplicate data submissions and improving interagency coordination.
The EPA’s budget in brief document, which includes a more detailed breakdown of the president’s proposed spending levels, states that the budget “supports innovative strategies and realigns resources to reform and streamline permitting operations.”
In particular, the budget proposes $33.6 million to support the NEPA Implementation Program, an increase of $9.4 million over the FY 2026 enacted level. This funding would be used to upgrade the NEPAssist and eNEPA platforms in order to “better facilitate the Environmental Impact Statement filing process, environmental review process and project planning,” the brief document says.
NEPAssist is an online tool that draws environmental data from EPA Geographic Information System databases and web services, allowing users to screen environmental assessment indicators in various areas of interest. The tool’s purpose is to help identify environmental issues as early as possible in a project’s development so they can be addressed promptly.
The budget brief document also calls for improving the chemicals and pesticides review process. It notes that EPA annually reviews about 400 submissions of new chemicals to identify potential risks associated with their use. “Efficiency and timeliness of approval of new chemicals is crucial to allow for the manufacturing of newer, safer chemical substances, and unleashing the American economy,” the document says.
Trump’s budget proposal includes resources meant to streamline the pesticide permit process and pesticide case management. It also seeks to to reduce the new chemical review backlog and accelerate the use of AI in chemical evaluations.
Industry and trade groups have long sought a faster, easier path to obtaining environmental permits. In January, industry representatives told the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee that Congress urgently needs to enact permitting reforms for faster approval of major infrastructure projects to lower costs, reduce waste and uncertainty and help meet the country’s growing energy demand.
In December 2025, the House passed bipartisan reforms to NEPA and the Clean Water Act, including permitting reforms, via the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act. That bill was referred to the Senate later that month, which has yet to act on it.
