Permitting Council Issues FY 2026 Recommended Best Practices
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)
WASHINGTON (September 30, 2025) – Today, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) issued the Fiscal Year 2026 Recommended Best Practices for improving the federal permitting process for FAST-41 covered projects. Mandated by federal statute, this guidance works to institute common practices for infrastructure permitting across the federal government.
“The Permitting Council is pleased to release the first Best Practices guidance under President Trump’s leadership, providing a roadmap for federal agencies to identify key problems that slow down the permitting process and to collaboratively implement solutions improving the efficiency of environmental review,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director. “By following these common-sense guidelines, I am confident we will see rapid utilization of American resources and speed the development of U.S. infrastructure.”
These recommendations provide guidelines on how to improve the environmental review and permitting process for large infrastructure projects. They offer strategies and practices aimed at enhancing transparency, predictability, and accountability in the permitting process, while ensuring environmental protection.
This year, the Permitting Council issued three recommended Best Practices for federal agencies involved in the permitting of infrastructure projects.
Develop or enhance innovative information technology solutions to improve the efficiency and predictability of the environmental review and authorization process.
Participate in an interagency effort to inform development or enhancement of performance measures regarding the efficiency and timeliness of environmental review and authorization activities.
Identify, understand, and address causes of delay in the environmental review and authorization process.
The recommended best practices are now available 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: Tuesday, September 30, 2025