Innovative Broadband Project Becomes First Tribal Project to Complete FAST-41 Permitting Assistance Program
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permittting.gov)
WASHINGTON (January 7, 2024) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce that segment one of the Alaska FiberOptic project has completed federal permitting and is now the first Tribal project to complete the FAST-41 program. This project will bring broadband infrastructure to Alaska Native Villages in one of the most rural and underserved regions in the country, where approximately 51% of the households live at or below the poverty line.
“Supporting Tribal Nations, including Alaska Native Villages and Corporations, with the benefits of FAST-41 is a key pillar of our permitting assistance program, and I could not be more pleased to announce the federal permitting completion of the first Tribal project,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “I look forward to seeing the tremendous benefits that this project will bring to underserved Alaskan Native communities, as it provides life-sustaining broadband infrastructure.”
The estimated $51 million project will install fiber broadband infrastructure directly to 5 Alaskan Native Villages along the Yukon River where the digital divide is a persistent issue, benefitting nearly 600 households. The project sponsor anticipates that this project will aid residents and institutions throughout the communities, creating permanent jobs for Alaska Native and rural residents; bringing new opportunities for distance education, telemedicine, public health and safety; and aiding in rural economic development. Additionally, sponsors expect this project to provide an essential tool for cultural survival, acting as a hub for language preservation, connecting youth and adults with culture-bearing Alaska Native elder mentors and networking resources.
Funding for this project comes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. This $3 billion dollar program is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s “Internet for All” initiative, working to provide affordable and reliable high speed internet to everyone in America by the end of the decade.
The Alaska FiberOptics project is one phase of a three-phase project that includes constructing a middle mile fiber optic network underwater and on land to support last mile high speed internet connections for 23 Alaskan Native Villages along the Yukon River. Other agencies with review and authorization responsibilities for this project include the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.
Learn more about segment one of the Alaska FiberOptics project on the Federal Permitting Dashboard.
About the Permitting Council and FAST-41
Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) and made permanent in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Permitting Council is a unique 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 renewable or conventional 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: Tuesday, January 7, 2025