Federal Government Maps Out Environmental Data for Infrastructure Projects
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permittting.gov)
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) released its geospatial (GIS) environmental data inventory, the initial step in developing a government-wide geospatial solution to improve the environmental review and authorization process for infrastructure projects. The GIS inventory, developed in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, provides public access to environmental data that can affect infrastructure projects.
The GIS inventory includes more than 200 Federal and state geospatial data layers that users can import into desktop and web-mapping applications to identify environmental information that can impact proposed infrastructure projects across the country.
Similar to consumer apps like Google Maps and Waze that provide users with data on the preferred routes, accidents, gas stations, and restaurants in a geographic area, the GIS inventory will give users access to various environmental and project-relevant data. Through the GIS inventory, Federal agencies and stakeholders involved in the Federal environmental review and authorization of infrastructure projects can access data on air quality, cultural resources, critical habitats, endangered species, water resources, and more.
The Federal government has long explored the idea of standardizing or enhancing GIS data and tools for government-wide use. Earlier this year, the Biden administration called for a task force to examine the use of a Federal geographic mapping service to facilitate climate planning and resilience activities. In its work to improve the Federal infrastructure environmental review and authorization process, the Permitting Council identified that the ability for Federal agencies and project sponsors to visualize GIS data makes the process more effective. The GIS inventory helps to identify much of the initial environmental and resource data needed for data visualization and web mapping applications.
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: Wednesday, December 1, 2021