Making Permit & License Time Frames More Transparent

Predictable approval timeframes for permit applications give all stakeholders clear expectations on how long it takes to acquire any of DEEP’s more than 125 environmental quality permits. These timeframes also create opportunities for DEEP to improve processes, innovate, and manage staffing resources.

Based upon the extent of review, public notice requirements, potential environmental risk, and technical complexity, each type of permit (i.e., Permit by Rule, General Permit, or Individual Permit) will fall under one of four different timeframes – immediate, within 3 months, within 6 months, or within 12 months.

DEEP’s Environmental Quality Branch (EQ) currently receives approximately 2,200 permit applications per year in the 3, 6, and 12-month processing timeframes, covering a diverse range of permits that deal with air, land, water, and waste. DEEP also successfully processes approximately the same amount of or more permit applications as it receives each year as reflected in the EQ Permit Totals table below.

It is important to note that DEEP continues to keep pace and work continues within available resources to process permit applications. We are continually pursuing improvement in meeting DEEP’s permit processing timeliness goals; however, it should be recognized that a significant portion of the applications not meeting timeliness goals are affected by applicant responsiveness, staffing, and/or enforcement issues that may halt progress. Efforts to reduce backlog and legacy applications may compete with efforts to address timely efforts until there are far fewer backlog and legacy applications to focus on. Backlog permit applications are defined as permit applications that are outside of their permit processing timeframe by 1 day to 1 year. Legacy permits are defined as permit applications older than five years. *Backlog details for this quarter are included below the timeliness chart. Legacy permit applications are tracked in a separate Legacy Permit Dashboard.

Explore our interactive data below by selecting the type of license and the timeframe you want to view. These charts display the total number of permits due to be processed in each 90-, 180-, and 365-day timeframes, represented by the sum of the light blue plus the dark blue bars. The green line represents the percentage of on time permit processing in each division.

It is always to the applicant’s benefit to submit a complete permit application, which eliminates the time needed for correspondence between the applicant and DEEP program staff, and therefore shortens the time to permit resolution.

Content updated March 2025