At a Glance

President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order to "streamline the current process" for federal infrastructure projects.Opponents fear the decision could lead to“rubber stamping” permits without adequate scrutiny.The Obama-era rule was designed to protect roads and buildings from climate change flooding.

President Donald Trumprevoked an Obama-era executive orderthat required strict building standards for all federal building projects to reduce the risk from increasedsea level rise flooding.

Trumpsigned the executive order Tuesday to end the Obama standards in order to "streamline the current process" for infrastructure projects, a government official told the news agency.

"The potential move comes as the [Trump] administration is proposing a $1 trillion build-out of roads, bridges,"Climatewirewrote of the rumors in March. "Combined with the termination of the federal flood risk management standard, signed by former PresidentObama in 2015, the construction boom could result in new roads that are susceptible to flood damage and taxpayer losses, some experts say."

The order will not keep state and local agencies from using a more stringent standard should they choose to do so.

The Obama-era standards requiredpublic structures such as subsidized housing and water treatment plants to be built , the Washington Post noted. Other more critical structures, like hospitals, were required to be built 3 feet above that line.

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Obama signed the order the same week that theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers released aexamining flood risks for some 31,000 miles of the North Atlantic coastline, finding that the "flood risk is increasing for coastal populations and supporting infrastructure."

Nearly in the United States worth a combined $882 billion are at risk from coastal flooding, with more than 900,000 of those situated in Florida, according to an analysisby Zillow based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Trump administration has long complained thatthe permitting process has gotten out of control and vowed to simplify the process.

Scott Edwards, co-director of the justice project at the Washington-based environmental group Food and Water Watch, said the decision could be dangerous and lead to , according to Bloomberg.