On June 30, President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum (“the Memorandum”) titled “Simplifying the Funding of Energy Infrastructure and Critical Mineral and Material Projects.” The Memorandum aims to streamline the application process for domestic energy and mineral production projects, continuing the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate regulatory barriers and increase efficiency across the U.S. industrial base. Notably, the Memorandum positions the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) as the central coordinating body, further strengthening the NEDC’s role within the administration. This alert provides an overview of the Memorandum and its key provisions impacting the domestic energy and mining sectors.
Information Sharing
Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to unleash domestic energy dominance, the Memorandum notes that energy infrastructure, critical mineral and material industries remain burdened by duplicative processes associated with federal funding opportunities. It adds that this process often requires industry to complete “multiple, complex, and substantially similar applications” across several different agencies.
To rectify this, the Memorandum directs agencies, including the departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Transportation, Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to share information regarding both pending and existing funding applications for energy infrastructure and critical mineral and material projects. This directive also applies to the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
To do this, the Memorandum specifically asks the heads of agencies to share information with the NEDC chairman regarding funding applications and existing funding commitments related to the covered projects. Following this, the NEDC chairman shall share this information with other agencies if it has received the proper consent from the applicant or the funding recipient. This enables the NEDC to serve a coordinating function between agencies. The Memorandum instructs relevant agencies, within 60 days, to modify their existing information-sharing guidelines and commence a rulemaking process to permit the actions laid out in this directive.
Common Application
Within 180 days, the Memorandum directs the OMB director and the NEDC chair, in coordination with the agencies covered by this action, to develop a “common application” for federal funding opportunities related to energy infrastructure, critical minerals and critical materials. This application is meant to serve as a one-stop shop, enabling applicants to apply to multiple federal opportunities at once. The common application will include all necessary legal terms and consent forms to facilitate information-sharing requirements.
The relevant agencies, along with the NEDC chair and the OMB director, are required to determine which of their programs will utilize the common application. Additionally, the Memorandum directs these agencies to determine what materials the common application will require, identify instances in which projects may be exempt from using the common application and establish the necessary legal terms for information sharing.
Next Steps
This Memorandum marks another effort by the Trump administration to alleviate complexities associated with funding and permitting domestic energy projects. It aligns with Trump’s Day One executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” which directed all agencies to review, revise and potentially rescind all regulations, orders, guidance documents and policies that impose undue burdens on domestic energy development. It also buttresses actions the Trump administration has taken to bolster the domestic mining sector, including the executive order titled “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production.” The March executive order not only directed agencies to expedite project permitting and prioritize mining on federal lands but also enabled EXIM and DFC, two financing vehicles historically used to back foreign ventures, to finance domestic mineral projects.
The directive also serves as another step by the administration to centralize energy policy decision-making within the newly established NEDC and promote interagency collaboration. In March, Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum titled “Updating Permitting Technology for the 21st Century,” which directed federal agencies to streamline the federal environmental review process pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for energy and infrastructure projects. Following this action, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) unveiled a Permitting Technology Action Plan, directing agencies to maximize the use of technology in environmental reviews and permitting processes. It further instructs them to build and employ cloud-based technology throughout the federal government’s systems to enable information exchange and enhance interagency coordination on projects, further streamlining federal processes to enable optimized outcomes.
As agencies initiate rulemaking proceedings related to new information-sharing practices and begin developing a common application for covered federal funding opportunities, applicants will face evolving compliance and procedural requirements.
