Trump Administration Appoints New Political Appointees to Permitting Council Leadership

WASHINGTON (August 18, 2025) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce two new political appointments to agency leadership. Anderson Tran joins the agency as the Chief Policy Counsel and Senior Advisor and Jordan Dayer joins as the agency’s Advisor for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. Together, they will work alongside Executive Director Emily Domenech in leading President Trump’s charge to improve permitting for critical infrastructure projects across the country. 

“I am incredibly excited to welcome Anderson Tran and Jordan Dayer to the Permitting Council,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director. “The legislative and policy expertise they bring to the Council will be essential in accomplishing the Trump Administration’s goals to speed federal permitting and strengthen our national and economic security.”  

An experienced legislative counsel and environmental policy expert, Anderson Tran brings a strong track record in federal permitting, ocean and coastal policy, and federal infrastructure projects to the role of Chief Policy Counsel and Senior Advisor. Previously, Tran served as Legislative Counsel to U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), where he led the office’s work on oceans and fisheries, agriculture, and science policy. His work involved supporting the senator’s role on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee where Senator Sullivan served as the Chairman of the Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries Subcommittee.

Prior to his time in the Senate, Anderson served as Legislative Counsel to U.S. Congressman Garret Graves (R-La.) in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he played a central role in securing the passage of key legislation such as eNEPA, multiple Water Resources Development Acts, and U.S. Coast Guard reauthorizations. He supported efforts on permitting reform, coastal restoration, fisheries and wildlife, and maritime while staffing Congressman Graves on both the Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees. Anderson began his Capitol Hill career with U.S. Congressman Don Young, contributing to legislative efforts on fisheries and other coastal resources, including negotiating language for a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Anderson holds a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences with a minor in marine science. He is admitted to the North Carolina State Bar and has held leadership positions with the American Bar Association’s Marine Resources Committee.

In her new role as the Permitting Council’s Advisor for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Jordan Dayer serves as a key liaison to Congress, federal agencies, and external partners. Dayer’s work assists in advancing the Administration’s permitting priorities through strategic coordination and outreach.

Before joining the Permitting Council, Dayer served as Director of the Republican Cloakroom in the House of Representatives. Over a four year time period, she held a series of Floor roles under Speakers Mike Johnson and Kevin McCarthy, where she played a central role in managing daily legislative operations and procedural strategy. She brings to the Permitting Council a strong command of House procedure, legislative and congressional dynamics, and intergovernmental engagement.

Jordan Dayer is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a native of Southern California.

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.