The 45th U.S. president will face constraints unfamiliar to a U.S. corporate CEO, but Donald Trump will still be able to exercise considerable leverage over energy infrastructure projects, particularly pipelines. Brandon Barnes, senior energy litigation analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, thinks perhaps the most critical action Trump will be able to take when he is in office is exactly what he is doing right now—choosing appointees for key positions.

“I think he gets to exercise his most power on infrastructure, particularly pipelines, through the appointee process,” Barnes said during a recent webinar hosted by Baird Equity Research. “From my perspective, [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) doesn’t] really act as politically as we’ve seen other agencies acting, so there may be more opportunity in other appointees in other agencies to move the process along faster.”

The Dakota Access Pipeline is an example of how a presidential appointee can change the process, Barnes said. In this situation, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Jo-Ellen Darcy, reversed a staff-level decision and decided not to grant an easement for the project.

While President-elect Trump will be able to choose the Republican members of FERC, who will have a 3-2 advantage over Democratic members, Barnes does not see this as a game-changer. FERC evaluates projects from an energy perspective, rather than for environmental reasons.

The Jordan Cove LNG project, for example, was denied its certificate because it lacked sufficient commitments from customers. Most pipelines presented to FERC already have capacity bought up, showing need for projects to be built.

It is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that inserts an environmental review into the FERC process. FERC does not execute the environmental review, but consults with relevant agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). These agencies provide expertise on whether a project complies with laws such as the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act.

Many in the industry expect a Trump appointee, such as Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt as EPA director, to be able to speed the process of comments on the draft environmental statement.

However, it is at this point that legal constraints on the president’s powers come into play. After the final environmental impact statement is in place, federal and state agencies are given a 90-day window to issue their permits before FERC gives final approval for construction to begin.

That is where the Constitution Pipeline in the Northeast ran into trouble, Barnes said. The Army Corps of Engineers could not issue a final water quality permit until the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation—using power delegated by the EPA— issued its water quality permit. The state agency denied the certificate and placed the project in limbo.

Of course, if statute-bound federal agencies are slow to approve projects, Congress has the power to make and change laws.

“Where President-elect Trump can move things around on the margins and definitely create a more favorable construction environment for pipelines, the timing and delay aspect of these projects, and certainly in terms of the steps you go through, could really be influenced by Congress,” Barnes said.

But there are other avenues through which the new administration could have an impact. The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is responsible for issuing general agency guidelines for the NEPA review.

The Obama administration has directed the CEQ to examine how projects would impact climate change. The next administration would likely shift the agency’s priorities, which could alter the NEPA process at the agency level.

Then there is the court system, which has taken on more importance as numerous projects end up there. Again, presidential influence can be projected in appointees.

But assuming that the new Republican president, backed by Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, follows through on promises to support energy infrastructure projects, Barnes suggested focusing on where state and local governments hold sway.

“These state water quality certificates, as shown by the New York and Constitution pipelines, have the ability to hold up a project completely,” he said. “Watching how new appointees can come in from Trump and potentially deal with this Clean Water Act permitting process is probably the key edge of what’s going to happen.”

Joseph Markman can be reached at jmarkman@hartenergy.com or @JHMarkman.