Trump Just Injected a Lot of Confusion Into Future Infrastructure

The president has unraveled permitting regulations. It’s not clear what happens next.

Donald Trump energy

Donald Trump’s environmental and energy executive orders have favored fossil fuels. Evan Vucci/AP

The Trump administration has blown up 50 years of environmental permitting rules in his first days in office, throwing the future of infrastructure projects into uncertainty.

Donald Trump ordered the White House Council on Environmental Quality to begin erasing every regulation it has instituted since Jimmy Carter’s presidency for the National Environmental Policy Act — the law that requires infrastructure projects like highways, railroads and power lines to go through environmental reviews.

The order is likely to invite legal challenges. It has also put the clean energy industry on edge.