[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 22, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 30733-30736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-12403]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 99 / Wednesday, May 22, 2013 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 30733]]
Memorandum of May 17, 2013
Modernizing Federal Infrastructure Review and
Permitting Regulations, Policies, and Procedures
Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and
Agencies
Reliable, safe, and resilient infrastructure is the
backbone of an economy built to last. Investing in our
Nation's infrastructure serves as an engine for job
creation and economic growth, while bringing immediate
and long-term economic benefits to communities across
the country. The quality of our infrastructure is
critical to maintaining our Nation's competitive edge
in a global economy and to securing our path to energy
independence. In taking steps to improve our
infrastructure, we must remember that the protection
and continued enjoyment of our Nation's environmental,
historical, and cultural resources remain an equally
important driver of economic opportunity, resiliency,
and quality of life.
Through the implementation of Executive Order 13604 of
March 22, 2012 (Improving Performance of Federal
Permitting and Review of Infrastructure Projects),
executive departments and agencies (agencies) have
achieved better outcomes for communities and the
environment and realized substantial time savings in
review and permitting by prioritizing the deployment of
resources to specific sectors and projects, and by
implementing best-management practices.
These best-management practices include: integrating
project reviews among agencies with permitting
responsibilities; ensuring early coordination with
other Federal agencies, as well as with State, local,
and tribal governments; strategically engaging with,
and conducting outreach to, stakeholders; employing
project-planning processes and individual project
designs that consider local and regional ecological
planning goals; utilizing landscape- and watershed-
level mitigation practices; promoting the sharing of
scientific and environmental data in open-data formats
to minimize redundancy, facilitate informed project
planning, and identify data gaps early in the review
and permitting process; promoting performance-based
permitting and regulatory approaches; expanding the use
of general permits where appropriate; improving
transparency and accountability through the electronic
tracking of review and permitting schedules; and
applying best environmental and cultural practices as
set forth in existing statutes and policies.
Based on the process and policy improvements that are
already being implemented across the Federal
Government, we can continue to modernize the Federal
Government's review and permitting of infrastructure
projects and reduce aggregate timelines for major
infrastructure projects by half, while also improving
outcomes for communities and the environment by
institutionalizing these best-management practices, and
by making additional improvements to enhance
efficiencies in the application of regulations and
processes involving multiple agencies--including
expanding the use of web-based techniques for sharing
project-related information, facilitating targeted and
relevant environmental reviews, and providing
meaningful opportunities for public input through
stakeholder engagement.
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, and to advance the goal of cutting
[[Page 30734]]
aggregate timelines for major infrastructure projects
in half, while also improving outcomes for communities
and the environment, I hereby direct the following:
Section 1. Modernization of Review and Permitting
Regulations, Policies, and Procedures. (a) The Steering
Committee on Federal Infrastructure Permitting and
Review Process Improvement (Steering Committee),
established by Executive Order 13604, shall work with
the Chief Performance Officer (CPO), in coordination
with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ),
to modernize Federal infrastructure review and
permitting regulations, policies, and procedures to
significantly reduce the aggregate time required by the
Federal Government to make decisions in the review and
permitting of infrastructure projects, while improving
environmental and community outcomes.
This modernization shall build upon and incorporate
reforms identified by agencies pursuant to Executive
Order 13604 and Executive Order 13563 of January 18,
2011 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review).
(b) Through an interagency process, coordinated by
the CPO and working closely with CEQ and OIRA, the
Steering Committee shall conduct the following
modernization efforts:
(i) Within 60 days of the date of this memorandum, the Steering Committee
shall identify and prioritize opportunities to modernize key regulations,
policies, and procedures--both agency-specific and those involving multiple
agencies--to reduce the aggregate project review and permitting time, while
improving environmental and community outcomes.
(ii) Within 120 days of the date of this memorandum, the Steering Committee
shall prepare a plan for a comprehensive modernization of Federal review
and permitting for infrastructure projects based on the analysis required
by subsection (b)(i) of this section that outlines specific steps for re-
engineering both the intra- and inter-agency review and approval processes
based on experience implementing Executive Order 13604. The plan shall
identify proposed actions and associated timelines to:
(1) institutionalize or expand best practices or process improvements
that agencies are already implementing to improve the efficiency of
reviews, while improving outcomes for communities and the environment;
(2) revise key review and permitting regulations, policies, and
procedures (both agency-specific and Government-wide);
(3) identify high-performance attributes of infrastructure projects that
demonstrate how the projects seek to advance existing statutory and policy
objectives and how they lead to improved outcomes for communities and the
environment, thereby facilitating a faster and more efficient review and
permitting process;
(4) create process efficiencies, including additional use of concurrent
and integrated reviews;
(5) identify opportunities to use existing share-in-cost authorities and
other non-appropriated funding sources to support early coordination and
project review;
(6) effectively engage the public and interested stakeholders;
(7) expand coordination with State, local, and tribal governments;
(8) strategically expand the use of information technology (IT) tools and
identify priority areas for IT investment to replace paperwork processes,
enhance effective project siting decisions, enhance interagency
collaboration, and improve the monitoring of project impacts and mitigation
commitments; and
(9) identify improvements to mitigation policies to provide project
developers with added predictability, facilitate landscape-scale mitigation
based on conservation plans and regional environmental assessments,
facilitate interagency mitigation plans where appropriate, ensure
accountability and
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the long-term effectiveness of mitigation activities, and utilize
innovative mechanisms where appropriate.
The modernization plan prepared pursuant to this
section shall take into account funding and resource
constraints and shall prioritize implementation
accordingly.
(c) Infrastructure sectors covered by the
modernization effort include: surface transportation,
such as roadways, bridges, railroads, and transit;
aviation; ports and related infrastructure, including
navigational channels; water resources projects;
renewable energy generation; conventional energy
production in high-demand areas; electricity
transmission; broadband; pipelines; storm water
infrastructure; and other sectors as determined by the
Steering Committee.
(d) The following agencies or offices and their
relevant sub-divisions shall engage in the
modernization effort:
(i) the Department of Defense;
(ii) the Department of the Interior;
(iii) the Department of Agriculture;
(iv) the Department of Commerce;
(v) the Department of Transportation;
(vi) the Department of Energy;
(vii) the Department of Homeland Security;
(viii) the Environmental Protection Agency;
(ix) the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation;
(x) the Department of the Army;
(xi) the Council on Environmental Quality; and
(xii) such other agencies or offices as the CPO may invite to participate.
Sec. 2. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this
memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise
affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals, or the
regulatory review process.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent
with applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent
with Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994
(Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations),
Executive Order 13175 of November 6, 2000 (Consultation
and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments), and
my memorandum of November 5, 2009 (Tribal
Consultation).
(d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
[[Page 30736]]
(e) The Director of the Office of Management and
Budget is hereby authorized and directed to publish
this memorandum in the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, May 17, 2013.
[FR Doc. 2013-12403
Filed 5-21-13; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3110-01