Free Republic

The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, road expansions and bridges, one of the biggest deregulatory actions of the president’s tenure. The plan, released by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), would help the administration advance big energy and infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL oil pipeline or roads, bridges and federal buildings that President Donald Trump and industry groups complained have been hampered by red tape. “For the first time in over 40 years today we are issuing a new rule under the National Environmental Policy...

<p>NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — President Donald Trump is expected to unveil his massive infrastructure bill on Monday, and the plan that once seemed to be a rare issue that both sides could agree on is now facing controversy.</p> <p>As WCBS 880’s Ethan Harp reported, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) addressed the infrastructure plan at Grand Central Terminal Sunday. He was once on board with the plan, but is now concerned with what it could really look like.</p>

President Trump's plan to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure would include stiff penalties for any federal agency found to be stalling new road, bridge or dam approvals. Trump said the administration would set up a new "council" to help project managers navigate the "bureaucratic maze," but its other function would be to "make sure that every federal agency that is consistently delaying projects by missing deadlines will face tough, new penalties."

Labor unions representing construction workers have sent an infrastructure priority list to President Donald Trump at his request, as his White House searches for projects to greenlight that require little if any federal funding. North America’s Building Trades Unions sent the White House the wish list of 26 projects, including more than $80 billion worth of energy transmission lines, water and wind projects, and pipelines across the country. More than half of the projects on the list given to Trump aide Stephen Miller are privately financed. All but one are in the midst of permitting and could use the Trump...