Hell's Kitchen Critical Minerals and Power Project Gains FAST-41 Coverage
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)
WASHINGTON (June 17, 2025) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce that the Hell's Kitchen Critical Minerals and Power Project is now covered by FAST-41. If permitted, the California based project would be one of the world’s largest geothermal power and critical minerals hubs, enabling the extraction and processing of lithium, a key component of the U.S. battery supply chain.
“I’m pleased to welcome the Hell’s Kitchen Critical Minerals and Power Project to FAST-41 coverage,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director. “This innovative combined mining and processing effort is exactly the kind of next generation project the Permitting Council should enable. I look forward to working with industry and federal partners to unlock our country’s vast energy and mineral resources and reduce our reliance on China.”
Located southeast of the Salton Sea Geothermal Field in Imperial Valley, CA, the Hell’s Kitchen Critical Minerals and Power Project aims to provide the first in a series of American minerals extraction and conversion production facilities powered by geothermal energy. If permitted, this project will supply a number of critical minerals that meet market grade requirements. The proposed power plant will convert geothermal brine into steam to generate electrical energy. Both the steam and the electrical energy will be used in the extraction of lithium and other minerals from that same geothermal brine for onsite conversion into battery-grade lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate for use in the battery industry.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers serves as the lead agency for this project. Learn more about the Hell's Kitchen Critical Minerals and Power 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: Tuesday, June 17, 2025