3PL Railroad Valley Exploration Project Completes Federal Permitting
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)
WASHINGTON (June 12, 2025) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce the completion of federal permitting for the 3PL Railroad Valley Exploration Project. Identified as a FAST-41 transparency project in response to President Trump’s Executive Order, Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, this critical minerals exploration project has the potential to play a significant role in supporting medical, commercial, agricultural, and military needs in the U.S.
“I am thrilled to see the 3PL Railroad Valley Exploration Project reach this critical first step,” said Permitting Council Executive Director Emily Domenech. “Permitting this project will allow us to explore untapped natural resources, opening the door for a secure, domestic supply chain for minerals vital to industries from medicine to national security."
Located in Railroad Valley of Nye County, Nevada, the exploration project will look for lithium, boron, tungsten, sodium, potassium, and phosphate. The project encompasses 40 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. BLM served as the lead agency for the projects’ federal permitting.
Learn more about the 3PL Railroad Valley Exploration Project on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. Learn more about the Permitting Council at permitting.gov.
About the Permitting Council and FAST-41
Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency Council members (including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors.
The Permitting Council also serves as a federal center for permitting excellence, supporting federal efforts to improve infrastructure permitting including and beyond FAST-41 covered projects to the extent authorized by law, including activities that promote or provide for the efficient, timely, and predictable completion of environmental reviews and authorizations for federally-authorized infrastructure projects.
###
Last Updated: Thursday, June 12, 2025