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DNR seeks $4M permitting pilot and presses critical-minerals and water infrastructure priorities
Summary
Missouri Department of Natural Resources told the House Budget Committee it needs $4 million to pilot an online permitting system, asked for flexibility to manage delayed federal funds, and highlighted a push to attract investment in critical minerals; DEQ warned members federal funding timing remains volatile.
Kurt Schafer, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), told the House Budget Committee the department's FY27 request includes two notable new decision items and several pass-through program updates.
Schafer said the department requested $4,000,000 in general-revenue authority to pilot an online permitting application and tracking system to modernize currently paper-driven processes. "This $4,000,000 is pilot project to try and implement a program that allows us to do faster and more efficient, online," he said, explaining applicants would be able to see permit progress and staff notes. The pilot is intended to reduce administrative backlogs, speed routine approvals and free staff to focus on complex permit reviews.
DNR also described work on a statewide energy policy (an RFP was awarded and the agency expects product by September), and a push to catalyze critical-minerals exploration in Missouri. Schafer said Missouri contains a large and diverse critical-minerals portfolio and that the Geological Survey and partners are working to gather pre-competitive geoscience data to lower the risk for private investment.
Art Gooden, director of the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ), addressed federal pass-through finances and said the division is mostly infrastructure funding that the state administers for EPA programs. DEQ described a requested flexibility increase (seek to allow 40% flexibility between federal and other funds) to manage timing mismatches when federal awards arrive late in the federal fiscal year; Gooden said the change would let fee and other funds temporarily cover work until federal dollars arrive.
Representative concerns focused on whether increased fund flexibility would create structural risks for local projects and how fee funds would be replenished if federal reimbursements were delayed. DNR and DEQ staff described how invoice timing and internal accounting permit that federal receipts can retroactively reimburse fee-funded activity once the federal money arrives.
No formal vote occurred in the hearing. The DNR said it would provide follow-up details and reports, including pilot vendor information and anticipated timelines.
Next step: DNR plans to report the permitting vendor and an implementation timeline to the committee and provide follow-up on how flexibility would operate administratively.
