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. 

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, 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. 

Future AI Tools

• WriteNEPA is a NEPA EIS drafting assistant that can identify and aggregate targeted information from documents, websites, and databases to present the content in a NEPA-friendly language aligned to agency guidance. This interactive application generates initial EIS draft sections for SMEs to refine and perform quality checks, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.
• EngageNEPA is a public-facing engagement tool for tracking NEPA actions and analysis of comments. Anyone can search for notices and meetings by specific time periods and geographic location. Users can easily view comments made by others in a digestible form, enhancing their ability to actively participate and make their own well-informed remarks on ongoing projects.
• 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. 

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

PermitAI Applications Team

• Anastasia Bernat (Application, Technical Lead) 
• Mike Parker (Application, Domain Lead)
• Sridevi Wagle 
• Derek Lilienthal 
• Reilly Raab 
• Sarthak Chaturvedi 
• Amanda Reed 
• Mridula Gupta
• Andrea Harrison
• Sid Raskar 
• Scott Spare 
• Anika Halappanavar 
• Benjamin Chauhan 
• Taylor Micah 
• Thomas Benson
• Bibi Matthew 
• David Kocen