STREAMLINING FUNDING APPLICATIONS AND ENSURING EFFICIENT USE OF TAXPAYER FUNDS FOR ENERGY AND CRITICAL MINERAL PROJECTS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum that fosters interagency coordination when funding energy and critical mineral projects to better prioritize the use of taxpayer funds and end wasteful duplicative processes.
- The Memorandum encourages agencies to share information with the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) regarding both pending applications for funding and existing funding commitments for energy, critical mineral, or critical material-related projects.
- This gives the NEDC insight as to whether funds across the Federal government are utilized appropriately and where they are most needed, without redundancies, and the ability to communicate suggestions on fund deployment to agencies.
- This also enables the NEDC to serve a coordinating function between agencies that are evaluating potential funding recipients, eliminating the need for duplicative diligence workstreams across agencies.
- The Memorandum further directs the development of a common application for Federal funding opportunities in the energy and critical mineral space to allow for applicants to apply simultaneously to multiple funding programs using one streamlined application.
CUTTING BUREAUCRATIC RED TAPE: This Memorandum fulfills President Trump’s broader commitment to make government more efficient and support our domestic energy industries.
- Agencies currently engage in duplicative diligence processes when reviewing funding applications for energy infrastructure and critical mineral and critical material projects.
- Applicants are burdened with requirements to complete multiple, complex, and substantially similar applications. Agencies conduct substantially the same diligence redundantly in order to make funding decisions.
- Streamlining this application process and increasing information-sharing across agencies will enable the Federal government to make faster, better funding decisions.
UNLEASHING AMERICAN ENERGY: President Trump is cutting red tape to unleash American energy.
- On Day One, President Trump declared a National Energy Emergency to eliminate bureaucratic barriers, unleash innovation, and restore America’s position as the world’s leading energy producer.
- He established the NEDC to advise on strategies for improving the processes for permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, and transportation across all forms of American energy.
- His Administration has cut down significant regulatory barriers in the energy space already by reforming NEPA, deregulating under the Endangered Species Act, granting regulatory relief under the Clean Air Act, and more.