Infrastructure projects from across the nation received permitting approval as the agency ramped up its work as a permitting center of excellence.

Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov) 

WASHINGTON (April 15, 2024) – The Permitting Council (Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council) is pleased to unveil its Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23). The report showcases a year of tremendous growth and forward-thinking innovation, as the agency makes substantial investments in permitting review and authorization processes while assisting several impactful projects to the permitting finish line.

“The past year was one of terrific growth and opportunity for the Permitting Council, as we witnessed economy-transforming projects complete permitting review and break ground on the road to bringing once-in-a-generation infrastructure to the nation,” says Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “In addition to our work assisting projects through permitting review and authorization, this was a year of incredible growth in our role as a center of permitting excellence, as we laid down foundational elements that will strengthen our work and the work of our council agencies for years to come.”

In FY23 the Permitting Council guided 33 active projects through the FAST-41 program, with the majority in renewable energy sectors. FY 2023 saw marked improvement in the implementation of FAST-41 by the agencies, with 100% of projects meeting coordinated project plan deadlines, and steady improvement with required posting of information on the Permitting Dashboard.

A total of four projects receiving permitting assistance from the Permitting Council in fiscal year 2024 completed the environmental review and permitting process, including the SunZia Southwest Transmission project and the Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion Project:

• SunZia Southwest Transmission Project: The SunZia Southwest Transmission project is a  ±525-kV high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line that will transport up to 3,000 megawatts of primarily renewable energy from New Mexico to markets in western states. The SunZia Southwest Transmission 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. 
• Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion Project: The Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion project focuses on restoring Louisiana’s coastline, which is experiencing some of the highest levels of land loss in the country. The project will reconnect the Mississippi River to its wetlands, ultimately working to protect some of the most vulnerable residents in the state, in addition to sustaining the ecosystem and wildlife on the coast. This area is also one of the most affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and this project will work to remediate the decade-long damage still being experienced.  

Fiscal year 2024 featured several firsts for the Permitting Council, including the introduction of the first Tribal and broadband projects on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. Santa Fe Indian School is the first Tribal project and also the first broadband project, proposing to bring over 300 miles of broadband infrastructure to rural New Mexico, aiming to connect 700 students and members of the surrounding community to high speed internet service. The year also brought the first critical minerals project to the dashboard, the $1.7 billion South32 Hermosa project. If permitted, the proposed zinc and manganese mining and processing operation could play a key role in the electric vehicle and stationary storage battery supply chain. 

The Annual Report also showcases significant progress in the Permitting Council’s role as the federal center for permitting excellence. As part of its work to support federal agencies, state, and Tribal governments in improving permitting review and authorization processes, the Permitting Council created the Environmental Review Improvement Fund (ERIF) Assistance Program with $350 million provided by the Inflation Reduction Act. In FY23 the Council allocated over $165 million in funding to federal agencies and Tribes to facilitate more timely and efficient permitting reviews, through the funding of staff hires and critically needed tools and technology. 

Learn more about the Permitting Council’s Annual Report to Congress at Permitting.gov. 

About the Permitting Council

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.

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