President Trump made a compelling case for reducing the length of time needed to construct major infrastructure projects to justify the creation of a new White House council to streamline permitting. Only one problem: it already exists.
"President Donald Trump wrapped up his administration's 'infrastructure week' Friday by unveiling a council and a new White House office tasked with streamlining fixes for America's infrastructure," reports Andrew Soergel, economy reporter at U.S. News.
"This council will also improve transparency by creating a new online dashboard allowing everyone to easily track major projects through every stage of the approval process," Trump said....
Soergel points out that such a council already exists: the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), aka "Permitting Dashboard." It was included in the FAST Act transportation reauthorization bill, approved by Congress in 2015 and established by President Obama in 2016.
"The White House later acknowledged that Trump was talking about the existing council, and that there's already a dashboard," reports Gregory Korte, White House correspondent for USA TODAY.
"While the previous administration did stand up the council, it truly did not fulfill its potential," said White House assistant press secretary Natalie Strom.
"During the speech, Trump pulled out three large binders containing the paperwork for a single environmental review of an 18-mile road in Maryland, clunking them down on the podium for dramatic effect and thumbing through all the pages," observed The Hill's transportation reporter, Melanie Zanona. "Trump said the report weighed 70 pounds and cost $29 million to produce — $24,000 per page."
Korte adds that the "president also said he would create a new office in the White House Council on Environmental Quality to root out inefficiency in the federal permitting process."
If it's Wednesday, it's Inland Waterways
Infrastructure Week took Trump on June 7 to the banks of the Ohio River near Cincinnati to bring attention to the need for investment for America's inland waterways, reports Becca Schimmel of Ohio Valley ReSource. However, he "did not detail any specifics for potential legislation or spending," according to C-SPAN.
On Monday, Trump spoke in favor of modernizing the air traffic control system by privatizing it.
FULL STORY: Trump Targets Permits to Cap 'Infrastructure Week'
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Trump Signs Two Executive Orders Limiting States' Authority Over Energy Pipelines
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The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
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New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
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Eagle County Government
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Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
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The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association