President Trump Appoints Emily Domenech as Permitting Council Executive Director
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)
WASHINGTON (May 28, 2025) — The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce that President Trump has appointed Emily Domenech as its incoming Executive Director. A Hill veteran with extensive knowledge and experience in the energy, infrastructure and permitting space, Ms. Domenech comes to the Permitting Council after serving as a Senior Vice President at Boundary Stone Partners.
“Streamlined permitting is critical to achieving the President’s economic goals and ensuring the next generation of innovative technologies are built in America,” said Domenech. “For far too long, burdensome regulations have stymied American industry and allowed our adversaries to take the lead. With certainty and transparency, project developers will make the major investments needed to develop our nation’s abundant resources. The federal government should be a tool to enable American abundance, not hold it back. I’m honored to lead an organization tasked with this vital mission.”
As Executive Director, Domenech will manage a portfolio of nearly $75 billion in large-scale infrastructure projects in 19 different sectors, from energy production to mining, ports and waterways to transmission. Domenech will lead the 16-member Council as it works to bring transparency, predictability and accountability to environmental review and authorizations, in order to standardize efficiency in all aspects of federal permitting. Integral to her work will be her leadership in guiding the Permitting Council as it supports key presidential initiatives, including President Trump’s Executive Order on increasing mineral production and helping permitting agencies to leverage innovative technology to improve the efficiency of the review process.
Prior to her role at Boundary Stone Partners, Domenech held the position of Senior Policy Advisor to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Mike Johnson. In this role, she managed the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Agriculture, Science, Space, and Technology, and all permitting and energy policy for House Republicans. Domenech served in the same role for Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Minority Leader. Her key accomplishments include leading the drafting, development, and passage of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, and serving as lead negotiator for the House on NEPA reform, resulting in the historic reforms enacted by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
She previously served as Senior Policy Advisor for Ranking Member Frank Lucas on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (SST), spearheading legislation on Department of Energy research, nuclear energy, and quantum computing. She also served as a subcommittee staff director under SST Chairman Lamar Smith, and as the legislative director for Representative Randy Neugebauer (TX-19).
Prior to her work on Capitol Hill, Domenech held political appointee positions at the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and served as the Federal Liaison for the State of Texas.
She holds a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College, a Graduate Certificate in Advanced International Affairs from Texas A&M University, and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.
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: Wednesday, May 28, 2025