Report highlights the positives of Iowa’s environmental permitting process

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A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report highlights the achievements Iowa has accomplished in improving its environmental permitting system, making infrastructure projects and economic growth more achievable than before.

The report details Iowa's implementation of business management processes as well as the creation of an online permitting database, both of which assisted in reducing duplicative efforts and eliminating unnecessary wait times with permit approvals.

"Over the past two decades, Iowa has implemented several reforms aimed at enhancing the efficiency of its environmental permitting procedures," CEI Senior Fellow James Broughel and CEI Research Fellow Patricia Patnode said in their report. "Iowa has succeeded in reducing permit processing times, increasing transparency, and improving customer service for permit applicants."

By enacting these reforms, Iowa has become a model for other states interested in permitting reform. Iowa continues to update its permitting process by continually revisiting the state's permitting process to make it more effective and efficient.

Early positive results from Iowa's permitting reform initiative included:

• The elimination of sixteen permit processing steps (from 23 to 7);
• A reduction in permit agency handoffs (from 18 to 4);
• More complete air construction permit applications submitted; and
• The elimination of a 600 air construction permit backlog.

Read the full report here: Corn Whiskey Clarity: Iowa's spirited approach to permitting reform

Read more from the environmental permitting series:

• New York
• Colorado
• Virginia
• Pennsylvania