[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 142 (Monday, July 28, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 35385-35388]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14212]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 142 / Monday, July 28, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 35385]]
Executive Order 14318 of July 23, 2025
Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center
Infrastructure
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Policy and Purpose. My Administration has
inaugurated a golden age for American manufacturing and
technological dominance. We will pursue bold, large-
scale industrial plans to vault the United States
further into the lead on critical manufacturing
processes and technologies that are essential to
national security, economic prosperity, and scientific
leadership. These plans include artificial intelligence
(AI) data centers and infrastructure that powers them,
including high-voltage transmission lines and other
equipment. It will be a priority of my Administration
to facilitate the rapid and efficient buildout of this
infrastructure by easing Federal regulatory burdens.
In addition, my Administration will utilize federally
owned land and resources for the expeditious and
orderly development of data centers. This usage will be
done in a manner consistent with the land's intended
purpose--to be used in service of the prosperity and
security of the American people.
Sec. 2. Definitions. For purposes of this order:
(a) ``Data Center Project'' means a facility that
requires greater than 100 megawatts (MW) of new load
dedicated to AI inference, training, simulation, or
synthetic data generation.
(b) ``Covered Components'' means materials,
products, and infrastructure that are required to build
Data Center Projects or otherwise upon which Data
Center Projects depend, including:
(i) energy infrastructure, such as transmission lines, natural gas
pipelines or laterals, substations, switchyards, transformers, switchgear,
and system protective facilities;
(ii) natural gas turbines, coal power equipment, nuclear power equipment,
geothermal power equipment, and any other dispatchable baseload energy
sources, including electrical infrastructure (including backup power
supply) constructed or otherwise used principally to serve a Data Center
Project;
(iii) semiconductors and semiconductor materials, such as wafers, dies, and
packaged integrated circuits;
(iv) networking equipment, such as switches and routers; and
(v) data storage, such as hardware storage systems, software for data
management and protection, and integrated services that work with public
cloud providers.
(c) ``Covered Component Project'' means
infrastructure comprising Covered Components, or a
facility with the primary purposes of manufacturing or
otherwise producing Covered Components.
(d) ``Qualifying Project'' means:
(i) a Data Center Project or Covered Component Project for which the
Project Sponsor has committed at least $500 million in capital expenditures
as determined by the Secretary of Commerce;
(ii) a Data Center Project or Covered Component Project involving an
incremental electric load addition of greater than 100 MW;
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(iii) a Data Center Project or Covered Component Project that protects
national security; or
(iv) a Data Center Project or Covered Component Project that has otherwise
been designated by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior,
the Secretary of Commerce, or the Secretary of Energy as a ``Qualifying
Project''.
(e) ``Project Sponsor'' means the lead sponsor
providing financial and other support for a Data Center
Project or Covered Component Project, as determined by
the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the
Interior, the Secretary of Commerce, or the Secretary
of Energy, as appropriate.
(f) ``Superfund Site'' means any site where action
is being taken pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 9604, 9606, or
9620.
(g) ``Brownfield Site'' means a site as defined in
42 U.S.C. 9601(39).
Sec. 3. Encouraging Qualifying Projects. The Secretary
of Commerce, in consultation with the Director of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and
other relevant executive departments and agencies
(agencies), shall launch an initiative to provide
financial support for Qualifying Projects, which could
include loans and loan guarantees, grants, tax
incentives, and offtake agreements. All relevant
agencies shall identify and submit to the Director of
OSTP any such relevant existing financial support that
can be used to assist Qualifying Projects, consistent
with the protection of national security.
Sec. 4. Revocation of Executive Order 14141. Executive
Order 14141 of January 14, 2025 (Advancing United
States Leadership in Artificial Intelligence
Infrastructure), is hereby revoked.
Sec. 5. Efficient Environmental Reviews. (a) Within 10
days of the date of this order, each relevant agency
shall identify to the Council on Environmental Quality
any categorical exclusions already established or
adopted by such agency pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), reliance on and
adoption of which by agencies (pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
4336 and 4336c) could facilitate the construction of
Qualifying Projects.
(b) The Council on Environmental Quality shall
coordinate with relevant agencies on the establishment
of new categorical exclusions to cover actions related
to Qualifying Projects that normally do not have a
significant effect on the human environment. Agencies
shall, for purposes of establishing these categorical
exclusions, rely on any sufficient basis to do so as
each such agency determines.
(c) Consistent with 42 U.S.C. 4336e(10)(B)(iii),
loans, loan guarantees, grants, tax incentives, or
other forms of Federal financial assistance for which
an agency lacks substantial project-specific control
and responsibility over the subsequent use of such
financial assistance shall not be considered a ``major
Federal action'' under NEPA. For purposes of this
order, Federal financial assistance representing less
than 50 percent of total project costs shall be
presumed not to constitute substantial Federal control
and responsibility.
Sec. 6. Efficiency and Transparency Through FAST-41.
(a) The Executive Director (Executive Director) of the
Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC)
may, within 30 days of the date that a project is
identified to FPISC by a relevant agency, designate a
Qualifying Project as a transparency project pursuant
to 42 U.S.C. 4370m-2(b)(2)(A)(iii) and section 41003 of
the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (Public
Law 114-94, 129 Stat. 1312, 1747) (FAST-41). Within 30
days of receiving such agency notification, the
Executive Director may publish Qualifying Projects on
the Permitting Dashboard established under section
41003(b) of FAST-41, including schedules for expedited
review.
(b) In consultation with Project Sponsors, the
Executive Director shall expedite the transition of
eligible Qualifying Projects from transparency projects
to FAST-41 ``covered projects'' as defined by 42 U.S.C.
4370m(6)(A). To the extent that a Qualifying Project
does not meet the criteria set forth
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in 42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A)(i) or (iii), FPISC may
consider all other available options to designate the
project a covered project under 42 U.S.C.
4370m(6)(A)(iv).
Sec. 7. Streamlining of Permitting Review. (a) The
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
shall assist in expediting permitting on Federal and
non-Federal lands by developing or modifying
regulations promulgated under the Clean Air Act (42
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C.
1251 et seq.); the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C.
9601 et seq.); the Toxic Substances Control Act (15
U.S.C. 2601 et seq.); and other relevant applicable
laws, in each case, that impact the development of
Qualifying Projects.
(b) The Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency shall, consistent with the
Environmental Protection Agency's statutory
authorities, expeditiously identify Brownfield Sites
and Superfund Sites for use by Qualifying Projects. As
part of this effort, within 180 days of the date of
this order, the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency shall develop guidance to help
expedite environmental reviews for qualified reuse and
assist State governments and private parties to return
such Brownfield Sites and Superfund Sites to productive
use as expeditiously as possible.
Sec. 8. Biological and Water Permitting Efficiencies.
(a) Upon identification of sites by the Secretary of
the Interior and the Secretary of Energy as described
in section 9 of this order, the action agency, as
identified through the process described in the
Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544) (ESA),
shall initiate consultation under section 7 of the ESA
with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of
Commerce, or both with respect to common construction
activities for Qualifying Projects that will occur over
the next 10 years at a programmatic level. The
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce
shall utilize programmatic consultation to ensure
timely and efficient completion of such consultation.
(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Army, acting through the Assistant
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, shall review the
nationwide permits issued under section 404 of the
Clean Water Act of 1972 (33 U.S.C. 1344) and section 10
of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899 (33
U.S.C. 403) to determine whether an activity-specific
nationwide permit is needed to facilitate the efficient
permitting of activities related to Qualifying
Projects.
Sec. 9. Federal Lands Availability. (a) The Department
of the Interior and the Department of Energy shall,
after consultation with industry and further in
consultation with the Department of Commerce as to the
Project Sponsors to which relevant authorizations shall
be granted, offer appropriate authorizations for sites
identified by the Secretary of the Interior or the
Secretary of Energy, as applicable and appropriate for
the relevant uses, consistent with 42 U.S.C. 2201, 42
U.S.C. 7256, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq., and all other
applicable law.
(b) The Secretary of Defense shall, pursuant to 10
U.S.C. 2667 or other applicable law and as and when the
Secretary of Defense deems it necessary or desirable,
identify suitable sites on military installations for
Covered Component infrastructure uses and competitively
lease available lands for Qualifying Projects to
support the Department of Defense's energy, workforce,
and mission needs, subject to security and force
protection considerations.
Sec. 10. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party
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against the United States, its departments, agencies,
or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall
be borne by the Department of Energy.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
July 23, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-14212
Filed 7-25-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 6450-01-P