PermitAI is building a suite of AI-augmented web applications to support federal agencies in efficiently managing, analyzing, drafting, disseminating, and visualizing environmental review and permitting data. For now, these tools are only available for beta testing by federal government users. 

SearchNEPA

SearchNEPA, PermitAI's first application, was launched in late 2024 and is undergoing beta testing by over 500 users across various federal agencies. SearchNEPA offers advanced search capabilities with customizable filters, a massive database containing extensive metadata and multiple document types (e.g., environmental impact statements [EISs], environmental assessments [EAs], and categorical exclusions) from several sources, and chatbot capabilities (i.e., through integrated ChatNEPA). With SearchNEPA, NEPA professionals can quickly find the documents they're looking for, ask those documents pointed questions, and receive accurate and easily verifiable answers.  

SearchNEPA and ChatNEPA are available for beta testing by federal government users from the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

CommentNEPA

CommentNEPA is a tool that uses AI to streamline the most time-intensive step in the public comment processing workflow. The initial offering can delineate comments from correspondence, organize those comments in human- or AI-generated bins, and export those comments into a CSV file for further processing. The backbone of CommentNEPA is a novel, auditable, interactive refinement framework that aligns AI output with subject matter expert (SME) preferences.  

As envisioned, this application will, in time, be a standalone solution for all comment processing steps, including the ability to deduplicate correspondence, refine extracted comments, summarize bins, draft responses to comments, and export fully formed reports in agency-specific templates.

CommentNEPA is available for beta testing by federal government users. 

WriteNEPA

WriteNEPA is a National Environmental Policy Act drafting assistant built to assist subject matter experts with initial drafts of content for EIS and EAs. The application uses a unique workflow that combines the style, tone, and formatting conventions of a previously published document with action-specific data for a new project to create a robust template. That new template can then be filled with data from environmental reports, websites, federal datasets, and more. The end result is a fully auditable, cohesive first draft that a subject matter expert can quickly verify and shape into a publishable draft. 

EngageNEPA

EngageNEPA can be used to track NEPA actions and analysis of comments. Users can search for notices and meetings by keyword, agency, time periods, and geographic location. Once located, users can read summary of the notice, navigate to the ground-truth Federal Register pages, or go to regulations.gov to leave a comment.
 

PermitCE

PermitCE is a web‑based, chat‑driven tool that guides users through preparing categorical exclusion (CE) evaluations for agency review. Designed to modernize and streamline the CE process, it automates workflow steps suited to the CE’s frequent, concise, and formulaic nature. Using a multi‑agent system, PermitCE draws on historical CE documents from the PermitAI NEPATEC database and integrates real‑time, location‑specific environmental data from geospatial sources. It also functions as a testbed for AI‑driven data services that, if effective, can be shared with other programs via APIs.

Future AI Tools

• InsightsNEPA is an advanced data analytics tool powered by language models that delivers trends and analytics derived from historical NEPA documents (i.e., NEPATEC). For instance, it can analyze patterns of potential environmental impacts from proposed actions on various resources outlined in NEPA analyses.
• PermitReg is a reviewer change aware agent designed to streamline the agency review processes by scanning documents to identify regulatory requirements, cross-reference them with specific agency guidance, and suggest resource management best practices. This can allow a reviewer to compare documents to successful precedents from similar projects, supplementing the internal knowledge base of agency staff, and ensuring that submissions are robust enough to withstand federal scrutiny and reducing the likelihood of iterative delays.

PermitAI Applications will enable agencies to make faster, more informed permitting decisions, reducing delays and costs

PermitAI Applications Team

• Anastasia Bernat (Application, Technical Lead / Applications Thrust PM)
• Mike Parker (Application, Domain Lead)
• Rebecca Tapio (Domain Lead)
• Dan Nally (Product Lead)
• Weili Xu (Technical Lead)
• Jim Jackson (Product Lead)
• Tycko Franklin (Technical Lead)
• Dave Goodman (Product Lead)
• Nathan Tenney (Technical Lead)
• Amanda Reed
• Andre Amante
• Andrea Harrison
• Anika Halappanavar
• Benjamin Chauhan
• Bibi Matthew
• Burcu Mutlu
• Cole, Dalton
• Cristina Stone
• David Kocen
• Derek Lilienthal
• Julian Slane‑Holloway
• Kaustav Bhattachary
• Laren Spear
• Lindsay Johnston
• Mahantesh Halappanavar
• Matt Macduff
• Michael Georgescu
• Mridula Gupta
• Olivia Hess
• Palak Mattoo
• Renuka Chintapali
• Reilly Raab
• Randy Truong
• Sarthak Chaturvedi
• Scott Spare
• Sid Raskar
• Siddhartha Sankar-Das
• Sridevi Wagle
• Taylor Micah
• Thomas Benson