Executive Director to Host Nation-to-Nation Consultations with Tribal Leaders
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permittting.gov)
Christine Harada, Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) will host a series of consultations with Tribal Nations in September. The events will bring together Federal officials and Tribal leaders from across the country to listen and learn from one another, identify ways to collaborate, and discuss infrastructure projects that affect Tribal Nations. Tribes are invited to attend one of four consultation sessions to learn more about environmental review and authorization of infrastructure projects pursuant to Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) and to share feedback on how the Permitting Council can improve coordination with Tribal governments on FAST-41 covered projects.
The event series will include four consultation sessions that correspond to time zones and regions across the country:
Eastern, Eastern Oklahoma, and Southern Plains Region
Monday, September 20, 2021
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EDT
Register here
Pacific, Northwest, and Alaska Region
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT
Register here
Great Plains, Midwest, and Rocky Mountains Region
Monday, September 27, 2021
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT
Register here
Navajo, Southwest, and Western Region
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. EDT
Register here
Tribal leaders can register for the events online. Tribes also may submit written comments to the Permitting Council if they are unable to participate in the consultations. Written comments must be submitted by Wednesday, September 29, 2021, 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Tribal Outreach and Consultation at the Permitting Council
Tribal consultation and strengthening Nation-to-Nation relationships is a Biden administration priority. Presidential Executive Order 14008 charges Federal agency leaders who are conducting infrastructure project permitting reviews, to begin consultations at an early stage with Tribal officials involved in or affected by Federal agency infrastructure permitting or authorization decisions. Most of these Federal agency leaders are Permitting Council members, and are also subject to the Permitting Council’s Best Practices for improving Tribal engagement and outcomes. The Permitting Council also provides tools to help member agencies achieve and maintain regular, meaningful consultation with affected or interested American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Nations.
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: Tuesday, September 14, 2021