Administration

Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration wants to significantly reduce wait times for federal permitting on infrastructure projects, and pointed to the White House’s quick approval of the controversial Keystone XL (KXL) and Dakota Access (DAPL) oil pipelines as strong support for energy development.

President Trump on Tuesday sent a $4.1 trillion budget proposal to Congress that mirrors earlier plans to cleave nearly one-third of funding to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as his budget director derided the previous administration’s “crazy” spending on climate change.

A Trump administration request to hold in abeyance a flurry of lawsuits challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP) was granted Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The Trump administration has asked an appellate court to delay a series of lawsuits over proposed rules governing new sources of methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry, in order to give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) time to review the rules.

Despite the wishes of the Trump administration, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday decided to continue hearing a legal challenge to the controversial Clean Water Rule (CWR), an environmental holdover from the Obama administration that Trump, Republicans and several industries oppose.

With encouragement from the new administration in Washington, DC, TransCanada Corp. on Thursday revived its Keystone XL cross-border oil pipeline project with an application to the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) for approval of a route through the state and the most pivotal part of the $8 billion project.

Following a boost from the Trump administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) on Tuesday returned to its original assessment and granted an easement to the backers of the controversial $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) for its final leg, a water crossing in south-central North Dakota.

After signaling its support for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, the Trump administration may be looking to fast track the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) as well.

The legal, political and regulatory battle that has hobbled the nearly completed Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project marked another legal juncture Wednesday.