This Week in Permitting Tech May 4, 2026: CE Works Starts First Agency Pilot
CEQ's CE Works has its first live agency pilot. New Jersey is launching a public permitting dashboard. And geothermal just got eight bipartisan bills through committee.
CE Works starts first pilot at BLM Moab
CEQ's CE Works platform — the tool that digitizes categorical exclusion determinations — has moved from demo to actual agency use. The Bureau of Land Management's Moab Field Office is the first pilot site. BLM also published its own NEPA implementing procedures in the Federal Register on April 28, one of the latest agencies to formalize its post-rescission framework.
This is worth tracking closely. CE Works going from CEQ demo to field-office use is the difference between a conference slide and a tool that practitioners actually touch. How Moab staff respond to it will say a lot about whether this model scales.
White House CE Works · Federal Register (BLM)
New Jersey launches permitting dashboard pilot
Governor Sherrill announced a public permitting dashboard pilot on her 100th day in office. The pilot will randomly select up to 10 projects — energy, commercial, and multi-family housing — that have recently submitted or are about to submit permit applications to NJ DEP, DOT, or DCA. Applications close May 21.
The selection-by-lottery design is unusual. Most dashboard pilots cherry-pick friendly projects. New Jersey is letting randomization decide, which means the dashboard will have to work for whatever walks in the door. That's a stronger test.
Eight geothermal permitting bills clear House committee
On March 5, the House Committee on Natural Resources favorably reported eight geothermal bills, six with unanimous bipartisan support. Several would streamline federal exploration permits, add geothermal-specific categorical exclusions, and exempt certain projects on state and private land from federal drilling permit requirements. DOE launched the Geothermal Power Accelerator in January, a 15-state strategy effort led by NASEO.
Geothermal is quietly becoming the cleanest case study for what sector-specific permitting reform looks like when it has bipartisan support. Eight bills through committee with six unanimous votes is real momentum.
Data center demand hits $1.4 trillion in planned utility spending
US utilities now plan roughly $1.4 trillion in capital expenditure through 2030 to serve AI data center demand. Maine is poised to be the first state to implement a data center construction moratorium (paused through November 2027). Twenty-seven states are advancing legislation requiring developers to cover energy costs and report usage. Grid interconnection wait times of five years or more remain the binding constraint.
This is the dominant national permitting story right now. Data centers need power, power needs permits, and the permitting system wasn't designed for this volume or this pace. The state-level pushback (moratoria, cost-recovery rules) is the political friction that follows when infrastructure demand outpaces governance.
MultiState Tracker · Power Magazine
NEPA litigation narrows post-Seven County
Lower courts are starting to apply last year's Seven County ruling. DOI has leaned on it to defend the sufficiency of mining EIS analyses. The Eleventh Circuit reversed a Florida district court, holding that neither construction nor use of a converted detention facility constituted a "major federal action" warranting NEPA review. The trajectory is consistent: narrower scope, more agency deference, more "not a major federal action" findings.
The practical effect is that litigation pressure is shifting from federal to state and local levels. Which is where most of the 305+ permitting technology tools already live.
Best Best & Krieger · National Law Review
Permitting Tech is an independent news site covering investment, products, and policy in permitting technology. Written by Boon Sheridan.
