Boon Sheridan 6/26/25 Boon Sheridan 6/26/25

A Look At CEQ’s New CE Explorer

On June 5th, the CEQ’s Permitting Innovation Center released their first prototype experiment, the Categorical Exclusion Explorer. The Explorer is the first time a collection of cross-agency Categorical Exclusions (CEs) has been transformed into data for experimentation. This is still in the experimental stage, and we applaud the Permitting Innovation Center for releasing early-stage products and experiments. Early and iterative releases are ideal for gathering feedback and improving future releases.

We’ve discussed using existing environmental review data management and sharing as an area ripe for experimentation and innovation.

Danielle Goshen 6/11/25 Danielle Goshen 6/11/25

Preview: Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Funding Tracker—Already Making an Impact

Becca Madsen 6/6/25 Becca Madsen 6/6/25

California’s restoration bottleneck deepens biodiversity debt

Boon Sheridan 6/4/25 Boon Sheridan 6/4/25

First Look at CEQ’s Permitting Technology Action Plan

This blog is a first look at the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Permitting Technology Action Plan, which aims to modernize federal permitting processes. The plan includes data standards for interoperability between agencies, service delivery standards for workflow automation and digital documents, and a maturity model for agencies to gauge their progress. Key highlights include implementing data standards, improving document management, and using GitHub for open collaboration. We note the potential for multi-agency procurement and prize competitions and outline potential impacts for agencies, applicants, and vendors. We express cautious optimism due to the plan's technical depth, interoperability focus, and use of existing work but also note concerns about talent gaps and the aggressive initial 90-day implementation timeline.

Cole von Glahn 6/3/25 Cole von Glahn 6/3/25

Environmental Accelerators - Value-Driven Velocity

Tim Male 5/30/25 Tim Male 5/30/25

We need to simplify environmental permits to boost their impact

Janet Pritchard 5/30/25 Janet Pritchard 5/30/25

Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Definitions in the Great Lakes States for Drinking Water State Revolving Funds: Guidance for a Mapping Tool to Explore and Assess DAC Definitions

Reed Van Beveren 5/21/25 Reed Van Beveren 5/21/25

Test Beds - Where Rubber Meets the Road for Innovative Tech

Jack Travis 5/7/25 Jack Travis 5/7/25

Automatic Enrollment Policies Can Make Lead Service Line Replacement Projects More Efficient and Expedient

Elizabeth Vaccaro 4/22/25 Elizabeth Vaccaro 4/22/25

The Next 55 Earth Days

Harry Huntley 4/21/25 Harry Huntley 4/21/25

An Abundance of Nature

EPIC champions a bold approach to environmental restoration, aligning with the Abundance mindset by streamlining wetland restoration, leveraging technology, and using pay-for-success models. By focusing on outcomes over process, EPIC aims to make nature restoration faster, scalable, and impactful—ensuring clean air, water, and ecosystems are abundant and accessible.