The White House has rolled out a new digital platform designed to cut red tape in federal construction permitting, marking the latest effort to modernize how infrastructure projects move from concept to reality.
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced Jan. 29 the launch of CE Works, a pilot technology platform intended to help federal agencies determine more quickly whether proposed projects qualify for categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Such exclusions identify actions that do not have a significant environmental impact and therefore do not require lengthy environmental assessments or impact statements.
The initiative follows President Donald Trump’s directive last year calling for an overhaul of the federal permitting system. The administration has argued that outdated, paper-based review processes have slowed critical infrastructure work and driven up costs nationwide.
According to the White House release, CE Works will give agencies a centralized, digital pathway to evaluate thousands of categorical exclusion determinations. The platform is expected to standardize decision-making and reduce the time spent on routine reviews.
Trump’s push for reform intensified after the Supreme Court’s May 2025 decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado. The unanimous 8-0 ruling limited the scope of NEPA reviews and reinforced agency discretion.
“Going forward, the Court was clear that it expects many technical, scientific, and line-drawing decisions to fall to the discretion of the agency and not be second-guessed by courts,” attorneys for Vinson & Elkins wrote. “And the Court sought to put an end to the vicious cycle of risk-averse agencies resorting to ever extended review times and ever longer NEPA documents in an effort to survive judicial review.”
The CEQ developed the platform in partnership with the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services. The Bureau of Land Management’s Moab Field Office will be among the first participants, with additional agencies expected to join as the pilot expands.
Construction and engineering groups have largely welcomed the move, saying technology upgrades are long overdue in the federal permitting arena.
Caroline Sevier, managing director of government relations & infrastructure initiatives for the American Society of Civil Engineers, said the group is looking forward to seeing the results of the pilot. ASCE’s 2025 infrastructure report card highlighted using new technologies to develop infrastructure more efficiently and effectively as a key goal, Sevier said.
“We think that anytime that the federal government is able to leverage new technologies that are out there to expedite the federal permitting process, ensure we’re maintaining that balance with the environment but still get critical infrastructure projects done is going to be a positive step forward,” Sevier told Construction Dive.
The CEQ’s earlier Permitting Technology Action Plan, issued May 30, laid the groundwork for the pilot by setting minimum standards for data governance, automated screening, comment compilation and digital case management tools. CE Works represents the first large-scale attempt to put those standards into practice.
Federal officials are not alone in rethinking environmental review. Several states have recently taken steps to accelerate approvals for housing, manufacturing and transportation projects.
California, for example, rolled back portions of its California Environmental Quality Act last June. The changes exempt certain housing developments, advanced manufacturing facilities, high-speed rail projects, agricultural employee housing and wildfire-risk reduction efforts from previously mandatory reviews.
Supporters say such reforms are essential to meeting the nation’s infrastructure and housing needs, while critics warn that speed should not come at the expense of environmental protection. The CE Works pilot is expected to be closely watched as a test of whether technology can strike that balance.
Originally reported by Matthew Thibault, Reporter in Construction Dive.
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