In a move designed to accelerate domestic energy infrastructure, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that developers will be allowed to construct fully wired, heavily piped concrete facilities before obtaining environmental clearance.
WASHINGTON — The proposed rule change, spearheaded by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, reclassifies the foundational elements of heavy industry—such as massive cement pads, miles of industrial piping, and high-voltage support structures—as benign architectural projects that can be completed entirely prior to regulatory review. Under the new guidance, energy companies can pour billions into site development with the understanding that they are merely building elaborate, non-polluting modern art installations until an air permit is officially granted.
The rule arrives as global emissions targets established at COP28 continue to slip, offering a streamlined path for data centers and fossil fuel operators to bypass early-stage environmental assessments as long as the smokestacks are attached last.
For years, our members have been forced to wait for environmental clearance just to build a harmless, four-hundred-acre concrete slab that only coincidentally features high-capacity industrial gas turbines.
Major developers and oil majors like ExxonMobil and Chevron have long argued that the National Environmental Policy Act unfairly penalizes companies for laying down miles of pipeline before knowing if they are legally allowed to transport anything through it. The EPA’s new framework operates on the regulatory assumption that if an air permit is ultimately denied, operators will simply walk away from a newly completed $2 billion power plant without exerting any economic pressure on local zoning boards to approve the final step.
Researchers contributing to the upcoming IPCC AR6 synthesis report have noted the rule effectively makes permit denial functionally impossible, as regulators are rarely inclined to demand the demolition of a finished facility. The EPA has scheduled a 30-day public comment period for the proposal, which will conclude just as developers begin filing their SEC climate disclosures for operational sites that technically do not yet exist.