From MEP member group, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
MPCA files report on permitting efficiency
House File 1, passed in 2011, required MPCA to set a goal of issuing permits within 150 days. MPCA received over 2500 permit applications in the nine-month period between March 4, 2011 (when House File 1 took effect) and December 31. In that time, the agency processed 99% of priority permits within 150 days. These priority permits required construction or significant modification of the facility in question – the types of action that can create jobs. The facilities receiving these 1,632 permits will help grow Minnesota’s economy without delay by MPCA.
Among all permit applications, including the more routine renewals, the agency took longer than 150 days with only 10% of permit applications. For most permits that took longer, there was a good reason: the agency was waiting for info from permittees, there was a significant public engagement process, federal or state policies changed, or the government was shut down. Read the permitting efficiency report here.