Permitting Council Executive Director Releases Summary of Accomplishments Detailing Tremendous Growth During Biden-Harris Administration
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permittting.gov)
WASHINGTON (January 13, 2024) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce the release of the Executive Director’s Summary of Accomplishments, detailing a period of tremendous growth during the Biden-Harris Administration. From managing a portfolio of over $114 billion in infrastructure investments to ushering 17 projects to the permitting finish line, the past four years have proven to be the most successful yet for the agency.
“As the agency turns 10 years old this year, the Permitting Council is relatively young in comparison to many federal agencies, but the strides we have taken over the past few years far outweigh our years in existence,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “I am confident that the foundation we built over this administration will pay dividends for years to come, as the FAST-41 program grows and serves an increasing number of projects.”
Since 2021, the agency has realized a number of key accomplishments, including an expansion of the agency portfolio, over $200 million in investments in infrastructure permitting review resources for federal agencies and Tribes, and the successful permitting approval of some of the most innovative and important infrastructure projects in the nation. Highlights include:
Increased Efficiency in Federal Permitting Review: On average, projects supported through FAST-41 achieved Record of Decision nearly 18 months faster than those that did not leverage FAST-41.
Agency Portfolio: The Permitting Council supported $114 billion in FAST-41 infrastructure project investment, including $58 billion in renewable energy, nearly $5 billion in electricity transmission, and $183+ million in broadband. If permitted, FAST-41 projects will produce 21,000+ megawatts of energy.
New Projects: 35 new infrastructure projects joined FAST-41 and are actively receiving permitting assistance from the Permitting Council—a nearly 40% increase in the number of projects in the FAST-41 portfolio.
Approved Projects: 17 infrastructure projects received federal permitting approval with Permitting Council assistance, in sectors from offshore wind and transmission to water resources and solar, including:
South Fork Wind: The first offshore wind project to gain FAST-41 assistance, South Fork Wind secured federal permitting approval in 2022. Construction finished in 2024, and it became the first utility-scale offshore Wind Farm in the United States. The $740 million project in New York is expected to produce 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035.
SunZia Southwest Transmission: This billion dollar FAST-41 transmission line project completed federal permitting in August 2023. The project is connected to the SunZia Wind project, a planned 3,500 MW renewable energy project also located in New Mexico. Together, SunZia Wind and Transmission could comprise the largest renewable energy infrastructure project in U.S. history.
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: The largest offshore wind project in U.S. history was approved in April 2024. When completed, the $9.8 billion renewable energy project is expected to power up to 660,000 homes.
Alaska FiberOptics Project Segment 1: Alaska FiberOptic Project Segment 1 became the first FAST-41 Tribal project to secure federal infrastructure permitting approval in December 2024. When completed, the $51 million project will deploy a reliable, affordable, scalable and future-proofed broadband network in rural Alaska, one of the most rural and underserved regions in the country, where approximately 51% of the households live at or below the poverty line.
Additional agency accomplishments include securing the first Tribal, broadband, and critical minerals projects in the FAST-41 program, in addition to launching innovative new programs to include Permitting University and the first federal/state partnership in the history of the agency. Read the full report 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.
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Last Updated: Monday, January 13, 2025