Expedited Federal Permitting Process to Continue During Government Shutdown
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)
WASHINGTON (October 2, 2025) – Yesterday, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) Executive Director announced continued funding for federal permitting efforts through the Environmental Review Improvement Fund (ERIF) during the lapse in annual appropriations. With 53 new projects added to the FAST-41 program since President Trump took office, the Permitting Council is fully committed to utilizing its statutory authority to keep this critical work moving forward.
“Federal permitting has never been a higher priority, or more effective, than it is today under this administration,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director. “During this time, the Permitting Council expects that any ERIF-funded staff will also take advantage of the opportunity to focus their efforts entirely on expediting permits for FAST-41 projects that are within the President’s stated priorities.”
To learn more about available funding and permitting expectations, read the entire letter here.
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.
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Last Updated: Thursday, October 2, 2025