Gov. Jeff Landry has signed two executive orders aimed at fast-tracking environmental permitting for critical minerals and rare earth production as part of an effort to lure heavy industries to the state, The Center Square reports.
One executive order gives the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and other state agencies 90 days from its Aug. 12 signing to submit comprehensive reports detailing the categories of permits that can be permanently expedited.
Another identifies heavy rare earth extraction and advanced chemical processing as vital to local job creation and national defense.
“For decades now, the federal government has basically bogged down both small and large businesses into a labyrinth of regulatory permitting bureaucracy,” Landry says. “And really and truly, it has killed businesses and jobs across the country.”
