Permitting Council Announces $25 Million In Information Technology Investments to Improve Permitting Review
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permittting.gov)
WASHINGTON (November 9, 2023) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) recently announced $25 million in federal funding for Information Technology (IT) development in the infrastructure permitting review process. These funds are made available through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda –a key pillar of Bidenomics – and support critically needed IT investments to strengthen the efficiency and predictability of federal agency environmental reviews and permitting processes.
“Innovative IT tools and solutions are essential if we are to measurably improve the federal environmental review and permitting process,” says Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “With this initial investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are looking for IT solutions that will do one or more of the following: facilitate meaningful public involvement, support timely, efficient and effective agency decision-making on essential infrastructure, and improve the user experience.”
These funds are made available as part of the historic $350 million investment into the work of the Permitting Council from the Inflation Reduction Act. Executive Director Eric Beightel unveiled this IT funding opportunity at the first-ever Environmental Permitting Technology and Data Summit, recently hosted by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Permitting Council. These funds will be made available for proposals that will best help to develop and modernize federal IT tools, to help agencies increase effectiveness, efficiency, and timeliness in the environmental review and permitting process. These upgrades will also assist in facilitating data sharing and coordination across agencies and will enable improved transparency and public engagement in the environmental review and permitting process.
This funding is a key element in the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to ensuring that federal environmental and permitting reviews are effective, efficient, and transparent, and guided by the best available science to promote positive environmental and community outcomes. In addition to this funding, the Permitting Council recently announced funding to support federal agencies and Tribes to further improve permitting review efficiency. Learn more about the Permitting Council on the Permitting Dashboard.
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, November 9, 2023