Permitting Council Announces Additional $10 Million in Tribal Funding

WASHINGTON (December 19, 2024) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce an additional $10 million in funding to aid Tribes in the environmental review and authorization process for critical infrastructure projects. This funding follows an initial $5 million in previously announced funds, aimed at equipping Tribes with key resources needed to fully participate in the federal permitting process.

“Our goal of improving the efficiency of the federal permitting process is impossible to realize without the full participation of our nation’s Tribes,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “Through this funding the Permitting Council is aiding Tribes with the support they have long advocated, and I am pleased to be able to provide this additional funding that will enable affected Tribes to meaningfully engage in the permitting of some of our nation’s largest projects.”

Recognizing the unique burden and capacity issues many Tribal Nations face when engaging in the federal permitting process, the Permitting Council created the Environmental Review Improvement Fund Tribal Assistance Program (ERIF-TAP) in 2023. The ERIF-TAP allows eligible Tribes to apply for funds to gain critically needed resources to help fulfill their permitting review responsibilities, ensuring a more meaningful and effective seat at the table during the environmental review process. Funds can be used by the Tribes to facilitate timely and efficient environment reviews and authorizations of FAST 41 projects, to include technical training, survey equipment, reimbursing cultural experts, staffing and more.

Since its inception the ERIF TAP has awarded $2 million in funding, including support for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Tribe. An additional Tribe is currently in the application approval phase and other Tribes have expressed interest in applying for funding.

Learn more about the Tribal Assistance Program 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) 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.