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US seeks to speed permits by limiting reviews

  • Market: Coal, Crude oil, Emissions, Natural gas
  • 15/07/20

President Donald Trump's administration today finalized a rule that attempts to expedite approval of federal oil and gas leases, pipelines, highways and other infrastructure by curtailing environmental reviews.

The overhaul aims to simplify reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) so that federal permitting of pipelines and other projects could be done within two years. Critics say the administration is trying to gut a law meant to require regulators to take a "hard look" at how approving a project would affect communities and the environment.

NEPA has become a growing vulnerability for the oil sector. A judge last week ordered the 530,000 b/d Dakota Access crude pipeline to close due to flaws with its environmental review. The 830,000 b/d Keystone XL crude pipeline was unable to start construction in 2018 for similar reasons. A judge last year blocked hundreds of drilling leases in Wyoming for incomplete climate change studies.

Trump today said the "top-to-bottom overhaul" of environmental reviews would remove roadblocks to building infrastructure and provide billions of dollars in cost savings. Trump has regularly criticized environmental reviews as unnecessary and too costly, drawing on his previous career as a real estate developer where his projects were subject to complex permitting requirements.

"I have been wanting to do this since day one," Trump said.

The US enacted the statute in 1970 with a broad mandate for the government to study how its actions could affect the environment before making a decision. White House regulations and decades of court rulings have fleshed out what the law requires, resulting in reviews that can be hundreds of pages long and take years to complete.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality, in the changes today, is seeking to reset some of that process by issuing a rule curtailing what types of reviews are required. The changes would allow reviews to focus narrowly on near-term environmental effects, such as soil erosion from constructing a pipeline, while avoiding the study of long-term effects such as how burning fossil fuels transported by a pipeline could affect climate change.

Oil groups cheered the overhaul. The changes are "desperately needed," American Petroleum Institute president Mike Sommers said, and would "make sure that job-creating infrastructure projects get off the drawing board and into development." Independent Petroleum Association of American president Barry Russell said the revisions would provide "needed certainty" to businesses.

The NEPA changes are coming too late to have an effect on the Trump administration's approval of projects such as the Dakota Access pipeline or its decision to allow oil and gas development within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. And the changes are likely to increase uncertainty in the near-term, as agencies figure out how to conduct reviews under the new rules. US courts might decide if the changes are lawful on a project-by-project basis.

Environmentalists are planning a major fight against the changes, which they say will be most harmful to low-income and minority communities that have used NEPA to oppose projects that would boost emissions near their neighborhoods. Critics say the government should undertake more robust reviews of whether projects would exacerbate climate change, rather than ignoring most of those effects.

"We will not allow this blatant polluter power-grab to stand," Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman said. "We will see them in court."

Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, if elected, would have a pathway to blocking the changes by undertaking a new review. If Democrats win control of the US Senate and retain control of the US House of Representatives, they could also vote to disapprove the change and quickly revert back to the earlier rules.


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Trump announces plan for 'reciprocal' tariffs: Update


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13/02/25

Trump announces plan for 'reciprocal' tariffs: Update

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ACBL sets release dates for Illinois River lock


13/02/25
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13/02/25

ACBL sets release dates for Illinois River lock

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Trump announces plan for 'reciprocal' tariffs


13/02/25
News
13/02/25

Trump announces plan for 'reciprocal' tariffs

Washington, 13 February (Argus) — President Donald Trump said today he would impose "reciprocal tariffs" on imports from an undisclosed number of countries sometime in the future, a move that could affect imports of ethanol and likely many other energy commodities. The idea behind the next major wave of tariffs Trump plans to unveil is to raise the US import tariffs to the same level foreign countries charge on exports from the US. Trump's trade advisers previously cited Brazil's tariff on US-sourced ethanol, which is higher than the US customs duty on ethanol, as an example of the disparity they would attempt to address. "They charge us a tax or tariff, and we charge them the exact same tax, very simple," Trump told reporters at the White House. As with his first tariffs against Canada and Mexico — paused until 4 March — and against China, which went into effect on 4 February, there is a great deal of regulatory uncertainty on how the tariffs will be implemented. "Nobody knows what that number is, unless you go by the individual country, and you can see what it is," Trump said. Trump's directive does not set a specific deadline for when the reciprocal tariffs will be imposed. The intent of the order is to force foreign countries to lower their tariffs against the US. But that outcome is not guaranteed. Trump's 10pc tariff on imports from China, and Beijing's more limited counter-tariffs, went into effect this month despite his claim that he would quickly negotiate with Beijing to avert a trade war. In what is becoming a norm with the tariff announcements, the Trump administration is alternatively downplaying inflationary effects of such tariffs, or casting any negative effects as justified. "Last year, US-based companies paid foreign governments $370bn in taxes," White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said today. "Meanwhile, foreign companies paid the US $57bn in taxes. Are we supposed to keep doing that because of some economic model that doesn't have the whole real world in it?" The White House, at least, no longer rejects descriptions of tariffs as a tax, even though it continues to insist that only foreign exporters — not US consumers — will be paying it. Trump has imposed a 25pc tariff on imported steel and aluminum that will become effective on 12 March. He set a deadline of 1 April for all US government agencies to investigate the causes of "our country's large and persistent annual trade deficits in goods" — a review that likely will result in additional tariffs later this year against imports from the EU, UK, India, Vietnam and other major economies. The large deficit the US runs in trade in goods with India will be a subject of Trump's meeting later today with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The US expects India to step up purchases of crude and other energy commodities to better balance bilateral trade. Trump likewise told Japan's prime minister Shigeru Ishiba last week that Tokyo should ensure that Japanese energy companies source more US oil, LNG and ethanol to "get rid of" the US' trade deficit with Japan. By Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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US wholesale inflation holds near 2-year high in Jan


13/02/25
News
13/02/25

US wholesale inflation holds near 2-year high in Jan

Houston, 13 February (Argus) — Prices paid to US producers in January held at nearly a two-year high, another sign of mounting inflation pressures that may keep the Federal Reserve from lowering rates for longer. Prices paid to producers (PPI) rose by 3.5pc in January from a year earlier, matching the prior month's gain, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. Analysts surveyed by Trading Economics had forecast a gain of 3.2pc. The PPI number follows a higher-than-expected consumer price reading Wednesday which together reinforce the message that the Federal Reserve may hold off longer on rate cuts, especially in the face of potentially inflationary trade conflicts and migrant roundups under the new US administration. PPI excluding food, energy and trade services rose by 3.4pc in January following a 3.5pc gain in December. PPI for services rose by 4.1pc in January following a 4pc gain in December. Wholesale prices for energy were flat following a 2pc annual decline the prior month. PPI for goods rose by 2.3pc in January following a 1.8pc gain in December On a monthly basis, headline PPI rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4pc, compared with a 0.5pc gain in December and a 0.2pc increase in November. Services PPI rose by 0.3pc in December, following a monthly gain of 0.5pc in December and a 0.1pc gain in November. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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