President-elect Donald Trump has announced plans to fast-track regulatory approvals, including environmental ones, for companies or individuals investing $1 billion or more in the United States. The measure aims to attract significant investments and boost domestic energy production, though details on how the regulatory process will be streamlined have yet to be clarified. In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that investors of this scale will receive “fully expedited approvals and permits, including but not limited to environmental approvals.” However, his transition team has not provided information on which regulations would be relaxed to fulfill this promise.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), often criticized by Trump, will be led by Lee Zeldin, who has already expressed intentions to reduce regulations seen as obstacles to business. The plan reflects Trump’s commitment to continue deregulating federal agencies and reversing Biden administration environmental policies, such as subsidies for electric vehicles and fuel emission standards.
During his previous term, Trump demonstrated a firm stance against stringent environmental regulations, having rolled back more than 100 rules related to air quality, water, and wildlife protection. He also withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement and strongly supported oil and gas exploration on public lands. For his second term, he plans to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s cornerstone climate policy, and ensure low-cost energy for the country.
Despite these promises, experts, environmentalists, and former regulatory agency officials warn that Trump’s plans could undermine decades of progress in environmental protection. Anand Gopal, Executive Director of Energy Innovation, emphasized the “potentially disastrous” impacts of reversing climate policies, while groups such as the Sierra Club are already preparing to escalate legal actions against the Trump administration to mitigate the anticipated damage from his proposals.
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