Missouri Partners With Trump Administration To Speed Nuclear, Infrastructure Projects – Missourinet

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday with the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council at Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center near Steedman. The agreement is designed to better coordinate state and federal reviews, reduce permitting delays and increase transparency for major projects.

Kehoe said the partnership supports Missouri’s efforts to move quickly on future energy development, particularly nuclear energy.

“Missouri is proud to join four other states in signing the MOU, and we appreciate the Trump administration for helping us out to get to this goal, which, if you’ve been around me at all, you understand we don’t work at bureaucratic speed. We like business speed,” Kehoe said.

Under the agreement, Missouri will work with the Permitting Council to identify priority infrastructure projects and align state and federal review timelines. Federal officials say the partnership will help streamline project approvals while avoiding duplication between agencies.

The agreement comes as Missouri leaders continue exploring the future of nuclear energy. In May, Kehoe created a nuclear energy task force to examine how nuclear power can support the state’s long-term energy reliability and economic growth.

Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Kurt Schaefer said the state is well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunity.

“We’re right at this culmination of having the right people in the state of Missouri and having the right people in Washington, D.C. to really try and bring not only Missouri, but the country really up to speed on everything from energy development, particularly nuclear, to critical mineral development that really have been kind of languishing for a lot of years,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer said the agreement could help remove delays that have slowed major projects in the past.

“With the Department of Natural Resources, the speed of business gets T-boned by the speed of the federal government. So, this couldn’t have come at a better time to get these reports out of how we can advance both nuclear energy and critical minerals and then work with the federal government to make sure that we don’t have any bureaucratic slowdowns on that end,” he said.

The Trump administration is using the agreement process to work directly with states on critical infrastructure projects. Missouri is the fifth state to sign an agreement with the Permitting Council, joining Alaska, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah.

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