Data

Database Built To Find Trump Permit Abuse Keeps Clearing Trump Permits

Jin-Ah Park's investigation began with a simple question, then produced a table nobody in the newsroom enjoyed looking at.

By Jin-Ah Park Filed from the methodology lunch nobody called helpful 5 min read
A database table of emergency permits stamped compliant, including the highlighted row, with a do not name this yet tab.
The file kept declining the role assigned to it.

The database began as an investigation into whether a Trump-era emergency infrastructure permit had been rushed through the system without proper review. It was a clean premise. It had a folder. The folder had confidence.

After 847 commits, 312 comparable permits, and one spreadsheet tab labeled DO NOT NAME THIS YET, the finding is narrower and more irritating: the Trump-era permit was processed faster than the comparison group and with fewer post-approval amendments.

"The data says what the data says. I have said that twice now, which is how you know I did not enjoy the first time." Jin-Ah Park

The Comparison Group

Park compared emergency permits issued across three administrations, then removed projects with missing environmental filings, duplicated docket numbers, or what one county clerk described as a photocopier situation. The Trump permit remained in the top decile for speed and in the bottom quartile for later correction.

Marcus Webb reviewed the underlying documents. Douglas Merritt re-ran the denominator. Neither described the exercise as helpful. Both signed off on the result, then ate lunch in a silence the newsroom has agreed to classify as methodological.

"I was prepared to be upset. I brought a folder for being upset. I did not use the folder." Rena Patel, county records supervisor

Not The Main Story

Park emphasized that this is a sidebar from a larger investigation, not the larger investigation itself. The main database remains open. The README still says ongoing. The file path has not been renamed, despite three private attempts.

For now, the permitting decision that was supposed to illustrate procedural abuse appears to illustrate procedural competence. The distinction is small, important, and the reason Park has not answered Gerald's last two messages.

Methodology note: This finding should not be generalized beyond the permit set reviewed here. Anita Farnsworth read that sentence and said thank you from across the room.