The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has identified over 600 energy and other infrastructure projects that could be fast-tracked under President Donald Trump’s National Energy Emergency declaration, according to data posted on its website.
Among the projects on the list were Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline under Lake Michigan, several natural gas power plants, and liquefied natural gas export terminals proposed by Cheniere and Venture Global.
The Army Corps posted the list, without sending a public notice, last week, marking the projects as eligible for emergency permitting treatment.
Trump had ordered the Army Corps to issue permits enabling the filling of wetlands and dredging or building in waterways as part of the “National Energy Emergency” he declared in a day-one executive order.
The Army Corps was not immediately available for comment.
The fast-tracking of these projects could trigger legal fights over many of the permits that will be issued, with environmental groups warning they are flouting federal laws.
“This end-run around the normal environmental review process is not only harmful for our waters but is illegal under the Corps’ own emergency permitting regulations,” said David Bookbinder, director of Law and Policy at The Environmental Integrity Project.
Courts may be unwilling to weigh in on the president’s criteria for what constitutes a national energy emergency but will more likely weigh how individual projects adhere to the language of the executive order, he said.
Companies with projects awaiting key permits applauded the move to “streamline” the review process.
“Line 5 is critical energy infrastructure,” said Enbridge spokesperson Gina Sutherland, saying the company has been awaiting a permit for building a Great Lakes Tunnel under Lake Michigan for nearly five years.
“We are very encouraged to see this action to expedite review for responsible critical mineral development projects,” said Jon Cherry, CEO of Perpetua Resources, which is developing a U.S. antimony and gold mine in Idaho with financial support from the Pentagon and U.S. Export-Import Bank.
The Biden administration had issued the mine a permit, but it still needs a wetlands permit, which Cherry said he expects to receive by July.
The Army Corps has in the past issued emergency designations to skip over environmental reviews in cases in which the project addressed poses a threat to human life.
Environmental and watchdog groups say that most of the projects marked as emergencies on the list do not meet the Army Corps’ definition of an emergency. They also question the Trump administration’s justification for declaring a national energy emergency.
“It is laughable to see Line 5 on this list,” said Debbie Chizewer, managing attorney for the Midwestern office of Earthjustice, which represents the Bay Mills Indian Community in opposition of the project. “It’s a pipeline that carries crude oil from Canada to Canada and will not increase U.S. capacity or respond to Trump’s declared energy emergency.”
Other projects do not relate to energy production, including a home-building project built on land owned by oil giant Chevron in California, as well as an aerial electrical distribution line to private waterfront residences in Alabama.
There are at least five dozen solar energy projects on the list. Solar and wind energy were excluded from the definition of energy in Trump’s energy emergency order.
West Virginia has the largest number of projects on the list at 141. There are 60 in Pennsylvania, 57 in Texas, 42 in Florida, and 41 in Ohio, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, which is tracking the permits.
Officials at Venture Global and Cheniere were not immediately available to comment.
