U.S. Permitting Council and White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Tour Louisiana Infrastructure Projects
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permittting.gov)
This week Permitting Council Executive Director Christine Harada visited Louisiana to discuss infrastructure projects featured on the Federal Permitting Dashboard with state leaders. While there the Permitting Council team, along with White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Brenda Mallory, met with environmental justice and energy transition leaders and engaged with Governor John Bel Edwards, his Cabinet and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, as they discussed ways to use the benefits of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) to help restore the Louisiana coastline and increase its resiliency for generations to come. Learn more here: https://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/3629
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: Thursday, April 7, 2022